Duration complement: V+了+time

Chinese grammar · HSK 4 · 时量补语 · By Carson 木林森

Shows how long an action lasted. Structure depends on whether there is an object:

了 le (completed action marker) 时量补语 shí liàng bǔ yǔ

No object: Subject + V + 了 + Duration
- 我等了两个小时。(I waited two hours.)

With object (two patterns):
1. S + V + O + V + 了 + Duration → 我学汉语学了三年。
2. S + V + 了 + Duration + 的 + O → 我学了三年的汉语。

Ongoing duration (still happening): add 了 at end:
- 我学汉语学了三年了。(I've been studying Chinese for three years and still am.)

Worked examples

Chinese	Pinyin	English	What it shows
我们等了将近一个小时，才等到座位。	Wǒ men děng le jiāng jìn yī gè xiǎo shí, cái děng dào zuò wèi.	We waited nearly an hour before getting a seat.	No object: V+了+Duration; 才 = only then (emphasises the wait)
他学汉语学了五年了，说得非常流利。	Tā xué hàn yǔ xué le wǔ nián le, shuō de fēi cháng liú lì.	He's been studying Chinese for five years (and still is); he speaks very fluently.	Ongoing: V O V了 Duration 了 — the final 了 signals the action continues
她在那家公司工作了将近十年才辞职。	Tā zài nà jiā gōng sī gōng zuò le jiāng jìn shí nián cái cí zhí.	She worked at that company for nearly ten years before quitting.	Intransitive verb: 工作+了+Duration; 才 introduces the subsequent event

Produce this pattern without stopping to think about it. GraphChinese drills Duration complement across 16 exercises and schedules the review that keeps it.

What you need first

Every topic in GraphChinese names its own prerequisites, and these are the grammar points this one is built on. If a sentence here will not parse, one of them is why.

What this opens up

These patterns list Duration complement among their own prerequisites, so they become readable once this one holds.

Complement types

Duration complement is one topic of 829. GraphChinese teaches them in prerequisite order, so this pattern reaches you on the day everything it rests on is proven. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.

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