Learn Chinese for Free—Lesson 69

INDEX  INTRODUCTION

Lesson 69 of 360

Today's Chinese characters:

看电视书了

The other Chinese characters contained in this lesson have already been studied previously. You can just click on them and go back to the corresponding lesson.

Character Knowledge Meter
46.3%
Today with this lesson your knowledge of Chinese characters will reach 46.3% of all the Chinese language usage!

Characters' Essentials

Character Help
看
Lesson 67
Pronunciation Help
kàn
Meaning Help
-[verb] Call on, visit, see
-[verb] To direct the eyes on someone or something (look at, watch, see, read)
Character Help
电
Pronunciation Help
diàn
Meaning Help
Electricity
Character Help
视
Pronunciation Help
shì
Meaning Help
Look at
Character Help
书
Pronunciation Help
shū
Meaning Help
Book
Character Help
了
Pronunciation Help
le
Meaning Help
[particle] Used after a verb or an adjective to indicate the completion of an action or of a change

Description and Examples

Word
电视
Pronunciation Help
diàn   shì   
Meaning Help
Television, T.V.


Dialogue 62

A:
马利亚，你好！明天星期天。早上你做什么？
B:
我看书。
A:
晚上呢？
B:
我看电视。
A:
我也看电视。请你来我家，好吗？
B:
好。谢谢！

HSK Exam Paper

The following is from a past HSK1 exam paper.

HSK1 exam paper

男:
在哪儿？
女:
在上面，看见了吗？

HSK Exam Paper

The following is from a past HSK2 exam paper.

A:
他在哪儿呢？你看见他了吗？

Sentence Structure 42
The Complement of Result—Part 2

Read again Part 1

The complement of result is used to show the result of the action expressed by a verb.

Example

看见

看:
action (the action of looking)
见:
result (actually seeing)

Both verbs and adjectives can be used to show the result of an action.

Example

来晚

来:
action (the action of coming)
晚:
result (being late)

As said, the verb indicating the action and the verb/adjective showing the result are closely linked together and no element can be put between them. The object must be put after the structure Verb+Complement, and not in the middle.

Verb + Complement + Object

看见他

wrong: *看他见

看:
action
见:
result
他:
object

Sentence Structure 43
Particle “了”—Part 1

The structural particle “了” is mainly used in two different ways.

“了 for completion”:
It is used after a verb (and before the object) or an adjective to indicate completion (of an action or of a change). The completion of the action or the change can refer to something that has already happened in the past or to something that is expected/supposed to happen in the future.

V + 了 + O

“了 for change”:
It is used at the end of a sentence or phrase (after the object, if present) to indicate a change or a new situation (in the past or in the future).

V + O + 了

In the next parts, we are going to analyse each one of the following possibilities, even if not in the same order:

  • V+了(completion)+O
  • V+O+了(change)
  • V+了(completion)+O+了(change)
  • V+了(completion, change, or both)
  • A+了(change, or completion and change)
  • "了" and Numeral-Measure compounds
  • N+了(change)
  • NM+了(change)
  • Negative of "了"
  • Questions with "了"

Legend
A: adjective
N: noun
NM: Numeral-Measure compound
O: object
V: verb


Sentence Structure 44
Particle “了”—Part 2

V+O+了

In the structure Verb+Object+了, 了 is at the end of the sentence or phrase, after the object. It indicates a change or a new situation.

Example of 了 at the end of the sentence or phrase:

看见他了

看见:
verb (+ complement of result)
他:
object
了:
indicating a change (you didn't see him, but now you do)

Sentence Structure 45
Particle “了”—Part 3

V+了 (no object)—Part 1

In the structure "V+了" without object, 了 often indicates completion and change at the same time, or only change. In a few cases it indicates only completion.

1) Example 1 of 了 indicating only completion:

我看见了很高兴

The case of 了 indicating only completion is limited to just one kind of structure, that is the one having a dependent clause (also known as a subordinate clause) with 了 followed by the main clause. In this case, the main clause's action/situation follows the completion of the dependent clause's action.

我看见了:
dependent clause
很高兴:
main clause

2) Example of 了 indicating completion and change at the same time:

看见了

看:
verb
见:
complement of result
了:
indicates both completion and change. The completion of the action is implied in the complement of result. It indicates also a change (you didn't see, but now you do). Remember that completion alone occurs only in dependent clauses.

As said, the complement of result is closely linked to the verb, and no element can be put between them.

wrong: 看了见

3) Example of 了 indicating only change:

来了！来了！

As in this example, 了 is often used to indicate a change that is going to happen soon.

来:
not yet arrived...
了！:
but it's going to happen very soon (as if it already happened)


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INDEX  INTRODUCTION

Lesson 69 of 360

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