About Chinese Language

The Particle   “了” 助词 “了”

The particle “了”can be used after a verb to indicate realization or completion of an action. For example:
你买了几个苹果？                 Compare：你买几个苹果？
（how many apples have you bought? ） (How many apple are you going to buy?
                                                                    How many apples will you buy?)
我买了五个苹果。                                    我买五个苹果。
（I have bought five apples.）                 （I’m going to buy five apples.
                                                                    I will buy five apples.)

If the verb with a “了”takes an object, this object usually has an attributive, which, in many cases, is a numeral-measure word, an adjective, or a pronoun.

                                       V + 了 + Nu-M/A/Pr + O

Subject	Predicate
Subject	Verb	了	Nu-M/Pr/A	Object
我们王小云马大为大为我他她朋友	看买认识吃介绍看租	了了了了了了了	一间两瓶一个漂亮的很多那位有名的她的	房子。酒。姑娘。中药。教授。京剧。房子。

If the object doesn’t (e.g “他买了苹果” or “大为得了感冒”), other elements are needed in the predicate to form a complete sentence. For example:
                   听说你得了感冒，现在你身体怎么样？
                   我去了医院，也吃了很多中药。
The negative form of this kind of sentence is made by placing “没” or “没有”before the verb and dropping “了”after the verb.
                    没有 +V   + O
             我们没有找到经理。
                他没       买    酒。

Note: one can never use “不”to negative this kind of sentence.
The V/A-not-V/A form is “V+没（有）+V”or“V+了没有”.
               V+ 没（有）V+O
               你们看没看房子？
              我们找没找到经理？

              V+ 了 + O + 没有
              你们看了房子没有？
             你们找到经理没有？

Note: “了”indicates only the stage of the realization or completion of an action, but not the time at which this action occurs (which may be in the past, present, or future). In this kind of sentence the action, in many cases, has already happened. It is also possible, though, that the completion of the action will occur in the future. For example:

               明天下午我买了本子去吃饭。
         (Tomorrow afternoon I’ll have supper after I have bought the notebooks.)

Not all past actions need the particle “了”. If an action occurs frequently or a sentence describes an action in the past but does not emphasize the completion of the action, “了”is not used. For example:

                过去（guò qù in the past）他常常来看我。
                去年（qù nián last year）我在美术学院学习美术。

Course: Life in China