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How to use the modal particle 了(le) in Mandarin Chinese?

By: Lina Shen Fri Aug 30 2024
Mandarin chinese
Modal, Modal Particles

 (le) is a versatile character and one of the most frequent characters used in Mandarin Chinese.  (le) as an aspectual particle is used to indicate the completion of an action or a change of state. In this post, we will see how is used to show that something has changed over time and also how it is used with an intensifier to express an excessive or impressive amount or degree of something.

Table of Contents

    What are modal particles?

    All the modal particles are placed at the end of a sentence to indicate supplementary meanings, grammatical relations, or moods. In the series on Mandarin modal particles, we have discussed  (ma),  (ba),  (a), and  (ne).

    Let’s have a quick review by looking at how these words are used in a dialogue. Here, two people are discussing dinner plans:

    Bobby: 晚餐吃炒饭,还是吃饺子

    (Wǎncān chī chǎofàn ne, háishì chī jiǎozi ne?)

    Will we have fried rice or dumplings for dinner?

     (ne) softens the tones when presenting two alternatives.

    Suzy: 吃炒饭

    (Chī chǎofàn ba. )

    Let's have fried rice.

     (ba) gives a suggestion in an imperative sentence.

    Bobby: 好

    (Hǎo wa!)

    Sure!

     (wa)/ (a) expresses agreement.

    Suzy: 你想喝点儿汤

    (Nǐ xiǎng hē diǎnr tāng ma? )

    Do you want to have some soup, too?

     (ma) turns a statement into a yes/no question.

    Bobby: 太好

    (Tài hǎo le!)

    That’s great!

    See below ↴ 

    At the end of the dialogue, Bobby says "太好了!" This is a simple and very common expression meaning "great!" (or more literally, "too good!"). But what is the  (le) in this expression? What is it there for, and what does it do?

    How to use 了(le) to indicate that something has changed state?

     (le) is placed at the end of a sentence to indicate that something (a person, object, situation, relationship, anything) has changed to a new or different state over time. This amount of time might be long or short, and it can either be implied or stated. It might be that your nephew has grown up since you last saw him, or that dinner is ready now (whereas before it was not).

    Here is the pattern:

    subject + verb + adj. +  (le)
    OR
    subject + adj. +  (le)
    OR
    subject + verb + (noun) +  (le)

    Example
    Translation

    Tā zhǎng dà le.

    He has grown bigger.

    我又

    Wǒ yòu lèi le.

    I’m tired again.

    你的汉语越来越

    Nǐde hànyǔ yuè lái yuè hǎo le.

    Your Chinese is getting better and better.

    牛奶

    Niúnǎi biàn sōu le.

    The milk has gone bad.

    晚饭

    Wǎnfàn zuò hǎo le.

    Dinner is ready.

    他现在(校长)了。

    Tā xiànzài shì xiàozhǎng le.

    He has become the principal (now). / He is the principal now.

    我姐姐会开(车)

    Wǒ jiějie huì kāichē le.

    My older sister knows how to drive (now).

    How to use 了(le) to express an excessive amount or degree of something?

     (le) is placed after an adjective and an intensifier (or an intensifier and an adjective) to indicate that something is too much:

    太贵了

    (tài guì le)

    too expensive

    太短了

    (tài duǎn le)

    too short

    太长了

    (tài cháng le)

    too long

    There are four common intensifiers used in this type of sentence:  (tài),  (),  (), and  (), creating four variations on the sentence pattern. In two of them,  (tài) and  (), the intensifier comes first and then the adjective. In the other two,  () and  (), the adjective comes first and the intensifier comes second. Notice that all four sentence types start with the subject (except when it’s implied) and end with  (le), and in between there is the adjective (such as 漂亮 (piàoliang, beautiful)) and the intensifier (such as (tài, extremely)). The Mandarin Chinese character (shì, be) is not used before the adjectives here.

    Variation
    Sentence Pattern
    Example

    (subject) +  (tài) + adj. +  (le)

    (subject) + intensifier + adj. +  (le)

    好吃

    (Zhè tài hǎochī le!)

    (It is) So delicious!

    (subject) +  () + adj. +  (le)

    饿

    (Wǒ kě è le.)

    I’m really hungry.

    (subject) + adj. +  () +  (le)

    (subject) + adj. + intensifier +  (le)

    漂亮

    (Piàoliang jí le!)

    (This is) Extraordinarily beautiful!

    (subject) + adj. +  () +  (le)

    (我)累死了。

    ((Wǒ) lèi sǐ le.)

    (I am) Extremely tired!

    Also notice that in addition to the notion of “too,” as in excessive,  (le) is also used to express the notion of “very,” as in “very tired.” This is like the word (hěn, very), but moreso. If you are 很累 (hěn lèi) then you are very tired. If you are 累死了 (lèi sǐ le), then you are extremely tired — literally tired to death.

    Let’s look at more examples to see how these patterns work.

    Sentence pattern
    Examples
    subject +  (tài) + adj. +  (le):

    你的房间

    (Nǐ de fángjiān tài dà le.)

    Your room is really spacious.

    我的头

    (Wǒ de tóu tài téng le.)

    My head really hurts.

    subject +  () + adj. +  (le):

    中餐好吃

    (Zhōngcān kě hǎochī le.)

    Chinese food is super delicious.

    你的英语流利

    (Nǐ de yīngyǔ kě liúlì le.)

    Your English is really fluent.

    When the subject is implied and known,
    it may be omitted:

    太热了!

    (Tài rè le!)

    It’s so hot!

    棒极了!

    (Bàng jí le!)

    Wonderful! / Awesome!

    可香了!

    (Kě xiāng le! )

    Delicious! (It smells/tastes great!)

    困死了!

    (Kùn sǐ le! )

    I’m so incredibly sleepy.

    subject + adj. +  () +  (le):

    这只狗可爱

    (Zhè zhī gǒu keài jí le.)

    This dog is so cute.

    这件夹克衫

    (Wǒ de tóu tài téng le.)

    My head really hurts.

    subject + adj. +  () +  (le):

    饿

    (Wǒ èisǐ le.)

    I am so hungry.

    你的鞋

    (Nǐ de xié chòu sì le.)

    Your shoes are really stinky.

    The patterns mentioned above can indicate sarcastic meanings. Check out these ones:

    这下,又停电了。

    (Zhè xià kě hǎo le, yòu tíngdiàn le.)

    This is great; the power is out again.

    !没赶上公交车

    (Tài bàng le! méi gǎn shàng gōngjiāo chē.)

    Great! (We) missed the bus.

    How to use 了(le) to indicate the passage of time?

     (le) is used in the following pattern to show that a specified amount of time has passed and a condition either has or hasn’t changed.

    已经 + an amount of time + = It's been ... (time)

    已经一个多小时,她还没回来。

    (Yǐjīng yíge duō xiǎoshí le, tā hái méi huílái.)

    It’s been more than an hour, and she hasn’t come back.

    已经十年,他们还没结婚。

    (Yǐjīng shínián le, tāmen hái méi jiēhūn.)

    It’s been 10 years, they still haven’t gotten married.

    他学汉语已经三年

    (Tā xué hànyǔ yǐjīng sānnián le.)

    He has been learning Chinese for three years. (and he is still learning)

    你奶奶已经90岁吧?

    (Nǐ nǎinai yǐjīng jiǔshí suì le ba?)

    Your grandmother must be already 90 years old (and she is still doing well), right?

    How to use 了(le) to tell someone to stop doing something?

     (le) is usually placed at the end of a negative imperative sentence to ask people to stop doing something. The negative word (bié, do not) is used in the pattern.

    (bié, do not) + verb + object +

    Imagine your roommate likes to touch your stuff, and you tell him 别摸我的东西! (bié mō wǒde dōngxi, Don't touch my stuff!). Despite your request, your roommate keeps touching your stuff. At this point, you should add  (le) in the end of the sentence and say 我的东西 (bié mō wǒde dōngxi le, Stop touching my stuff!). This statement implies that the person you’re speaking to (your grabby roommate) has been touching your stuff a lot, and this habit needs to stop now. It needs to change. Hence, at the end of the statement.

    Let's look at some more examples:

    Stop doing something:
     (bié) + verb + object +  (le)!
    Don't do something:
     (bié) + verb + object!

    电视!去写作业。

    (Bié kàn diànshì le, qù xiě zuòyè.)

    Stop watching TV! Go and do (your) homework.

    吃晚饭前电视

    (Chī wǎnfàn qián bié kàn diànshì!)

    Don’t watch TV before (having) dinner.

    睡觉!我们去吃饭吧!

    (Bié shuì le, wǒmen qù chīfàn ba!)

    Stop sleeping! Let’s go have something to eat!

    睡觉!等我回来!

    (Bié shuìjiào, děng wǒ huílái!)

    Don’t go to bed! Wait until I get back!

    !快回家。

    (Bié wán le, kuài huíjiā.)

    Stop playing! Go home.

    (Bié wán hǒu!)

    Don’t play with fire.

    How to use 了(le) to indicate “to be about to”?

     (le) is used with ( (kuài)/ (jiù))  (yào) ...  (le) (be about to) to indicate an action or a change of state of affairs is going to take place soon. Check out our post on this!

    To sum up

     (le) can be an aspectual particle, and it can also work as a modal particle, as we discussed in this post. 我们快来复习一下吧! (wǒmen kuài lái fùxí yíxià ba, Let’s have a quick review!)

    A change to a new state has happened:

    他变瘦了。

    (Tā biàn shòu le.)

    He has become thinner.

    我现在是美国人了。

    (Wǒ xiànzài shì měiguó rén le.)

    I am an American now.

    To indicate something is too much with intensifiers  (tài),  (),  (), and  ():

    我太高兴了!

    (Wǒ tài gāoxìng le!)

    I am so happy!

    你可漂亮了!

    (Nǐ kě piàoliang le!)

    You are really pretty!

    今天冷极了!

    (Jīntiān lěng jí le!)

    It's super cold today!

    我饿死了!

    (Wǒ è sǐ le!)

    I am starving to death!

    To indicate the passage of time:

    他住在这里已经十年了。

    (Tā zhùzài zhèli yǐjīng shínián le.)

    He has been living here for ten years already.

    To stop doing something:

    别睡了,快起床吧!

    (Bié shuì le, kuài qǐchuáng ba!)

    Stop sleeping! Get up!

    Now we have discussed all the modal particles:  (ma),  (ba),  (a),  (ne), and  (le)! 恭喜呀! (gōngxǐ ya, Congrats!)
    你准备好做练习题了吗? (nǐ zhǔnbèi hǎo zuò liànxí tí le ma, Are you ready for some exercises?)
    来吧,你一定可以的! (láiba, nǐ yídìng kěyǐ de, Come on, you can make it!)

    Downloadable Resources

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    How to use the modal particle 了(le) in Mandarin Chinese~Activities

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