时量补语（1）The time—measure complement (1)

The time-measure complement is used after a verb to indicate the duration of an action or state. When the verb has an object, it is duplicated after the object and then followed by a time—measure complement. The first verb is usually omitted in this construction, and its interrogative form often uses the phrase ‘多长时间“。

（V)  +  O + time-measure complement

Note：only time phrases indicating a period of time can be used as time—measure complements, such as “一分钟，两小时，三天，四个月，五年 and 一会儿”。 Time phrases indicating a point of time on the time scale, such as “三点钟，一月一号，2002年”， cannot be used as time—measure complements, since they do not express a duration of time. For example, we cannot say：“我等了一点半。”

To create the negative form, a negative adverb is usually placed before the predicative verb of the sentence with the time---measure complement. For example:
丁力波没有学习半年，他学习了三个月。
你外语考了两个小时吗？
-------我外语没有考两个小时。