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How to express ongoing duration with double 了 (le)

Verb + 了 (le) + Duration + 了 (le)

了 (le) — ongoing duration

HSK 3Verb phrases

Rule structure

The structure verb + 了 (le) + duration + 了 (le) indicates an action that started in the past and continues up to the present moment. The final 了 (le) shows the situation is still relevant now.

Examples

他等了一个小时了。

Tā děng le yī gè xiǎoshí le.

He has been waiting for an hour.

他们等了五分钟了。

Tāmen děng le wǔfēnzhōng le.

They have been waiting for five minutes.

我学了三年中文了。

Wǒ xué le sānnián zhōngwén le.

I have been studying Chinese for three years.

Practice

Build the sentence

Drag the characters to put them in the correct order

Characters

Words from this rule

了

le

Particle (completed action or change of state)

他

tā

He

等

děng

To wait

一

yī

One, 1

个

gè

General measure word

小时

xiǎoshí

Hour

他们

tā men

They

五

wǔ

Five, 5

分钟

fēnzhōng

Minute

我

wǒ

I, me

学

xué

To study, to learn

三

sān

Three, 3

Frequently asked questions

How do you say “ongoing duration” in Chinese with 了?

Use the structure: Verb + 了 (le) + Duration + 了 (le). For example: 他等了一个小时了。 — “He has been waiting for an hour”.

What is an example sentence with this grammar rule?

他等了一个小时了。 — “He has been waiting for an hour”.

Which HSK level includes this grammar rule?

This grammar rule is part of HSK 3.

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More HSK 3 grammar rules

了 — ongoing duration with double 了

Verb + 了 (le) + Duration + 了 (le)

难 — hard to do

难 (nán) + Verb

很 — very with verbs

很 (hěn) + Verb

没办法 — can't help, no way

没办法 (méi bànfǎ) + Verb

一边 — doing two things at once

一边 (yìbiān) + Verb 1, 一边 (yìbiān) + Verb 2

如果…就 — if… then…

如果 (rúguǒ)……，就 (jiù)……

万 — big numbers

Number + 万 (wàn) / 亿 (yì)

地 — turning adjectives into adverbs

Adj. + 地 (de) + Verb