Duration & Frequency Complements
时量补语 (duration) — how LONG an action lasted: V + 了/过 + Duration (+ 的 + Object). ✅ 我们等了半个小时。 With an object: ✅ 我等了半个小时的车。 or repeat the verb: ✅ 我等车等了半个小时。
动量补语 (frequency) — how MANY TIMES: V + 过/了 + Number + 次/遍/趟 (+ Object). ✅ 我去过两次北京。
Key rule: if the object is a PRONOUN (他/她/它/你/我), it must come BEFORE the frequency complement. ✅ 我见过他两次。 ❌ 我见过两次他。
Worked examples
| Chinese | Pinyin | English | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| 我们在车站等了两个小时。 | Wǒmen zài chēzhàn děngle liǎng ge xiǎoshí. | We waited at the station for two hours. | V(等)+了+duration(两个小时), the minimal duration-complement frame with no object. |
| 我去过三次上海。 | Wǒ qùguo sān cì Shànghǎi. | I've been to Shanghai three times. | V(去)+过+frequency(三次)+noun object(上海) — the noun object comes after the frequency complement. |
| 医生已经提醒过他好几次了，让他别再抽烟。 | Yīshēng yǐjīng tíxǐngguo tā hǎo jǐ cì le, ràng tā bié zài chōuyān. | The doctor has already warned him several times to stop smoking. | The object is a PRONOUN (他), so it must come BEFORE the frequency complement (好几次) — the opposite order from example 2's noun object. |
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 & Frequency Complements among their own prerequisites, so they become readable once this one holds.
Duration & Frequency Complements 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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