What 了 (le) means in Chinese
Leon·November 12, 2026·9 min
(le) right after a verb marks the action as complete. at the end of a sentence marks a change in the situation. Neither one is a past tense.
Most uses of are in one of those two positions. Most of the other uses are in a few fixed patterns, such as … and …. In a small group of words, the same character is read liǎo and has a different meaning.
is the fifth most common word in SUBTLEX-CH, a frequency list built from 33.5 million words of film and TV subtitles. Only , , and come before it. In the 37,676 Tatoeba sentences that our dictionary uses for examples, 7,885 contain . That is about one sentence in five.
Dengdeng, our reading app, has real stories from China at your level. Tap a word to see its pinyin and its meaning in that sentence. For , the meaning depends on where it is in the sentence.
The example sentences are from Tatoeba, and each one links to its source.
After the verb, the action is complete
directly after a verb marks the action as complete.
我买了一本书。
I bought a book.
她买了两双袜子。
She bought two pairs of socks.
你吃了几碗饭？
How many bowls of rice did you eat?
The object usually has a number or some other detail: , . A bare object after often sounds as if the sentence is not finished yet.
is not a past tense
English marks the past on the verb: buy, bought. Chinese does not. A sentence about the past can have no at all, when it describes a habit or a state:
我小时候经常生病。
I was often ill as a child.
And can be in a sentence about the future. Here it marks one event as complete before the next one starts:
如果车子坏了，我们就走路。
If the car breaks down, we'll walk.
So read verb + as “done”, not as “past”. The time comes from the context, or from words like (yesterday) and (tomorrow).
At the end of the sentence, something has changed
The second is at the very end. It marks a new situation: it was not like this before.
开始下雨了。
It's started to rain.
我现在明白了。
Now I understand.
我们都饿了。
We're all hungry now.
我爸爸变老了。
My dad has got old.
English often needs “now” or “has become” to say the same thing. only describes a state. means that you were not hungry earlier, and you are now.
The change can also be in the future:
明天就是圣诞节了。
Tomorrow it'll be Christmas.
Of our 7,885 sentences with , about 3,200 have it at the very end, or just before the question particle .
Asking whether something happened
Add after the final , or ask (“…or not?”):
你吃了吗？
Have you eaten?
他来了没有？
Has he come yet?
People also use as a greeting. As with “How are you?” in English, they do not always expect a real answer.
Two with an amount of time
With a duration, the meaning changes when you add a second .
我在这里住了十年。
I lived here for ten years.
我在这里住了三十年了。
I've been living here for thirty years.
我学英文已经学了三年了。
I've been studying English for three years now.
With one , the ten years are a finished period. The speaker may have moved out.
With a second at the end, the thirty years continue up to now, and the person still lives there. This is the change-of-state : the situation is true now.
The third sentence repeats the verb: for the object, then for the time. Chinese puts the duration after the verb, so a verb with an object often appears twice like this.
No after
To say that something did not happen, use or before the verb, and leave out .
我还没吃早餐。
I haven't had breakfast yet.
我没去派对。
I didn't go to the party.
Learners often write for “I didn't go”. That is wrong: already means the action did not happen, so there is nothing to mark as complete.
With a duration, you can add a final again. The time then continues up to now, as in the last section:
我三天没吃东西了。
I haven't eaten anything for three days.
…, “not any more”
with a final means something used to be true and has stopped. It is the change-of-state again, applied to a negative.
他已经不抽烟了。
He doesn't smoke any more.
他不再住在这里了。
He doesn't live here any more.
Compare (“I didn't go”) with (“I'm not going after all”). The second one means that you changed your plan.
…, “too” or “so”
plus an adjective plus usually means “too”, and often it is a complaint.
太贵了。
It's too expensive.
这咖啡太苦了。
This coffee is too bitter.
你开得太快了。
You're driving too fast.
With a positive word, it is praise, close to English “so”:
你对我太好了。
You're so good to me.
alone means “Great!”
… and …, “about to”
, or before the verb, with at the end, means something is going to happen soon.
圣诞节快到了。
Christmas is nearly here.
船快要开了。
The boat is about to leave.
电池快没电了。
The battery is almost dead.
我要回家睡觉了。
I'm going home to bed.
People often say something like the last one as they leave: what they are about to do, with at the end.
When is liǎo
The same character has a second reading, liǎo, with its own meanings: to finish, and to understand. You see it in words, not as a particle.
The most common word is , “to understand” or “to know about”:
我很了解这地方。
I know this place well.
After a verb, plus (liǎo) means “can't”: the action is not possible, or you cannot manage it. With in place of , it means “can”.
我受不了这么热。
I can't stand this heat.
我实在很忙，所以今晚来不了。
I'm really busy, so I can't come tonight.
One sentence can have both readings:
这个永远完不了了。
This is never going to end.
In , is liǎo: “can't finish”. The final is le, the change-of-state .
How to tell which you have
Look at what comes just before and after it.
- Right after a verb, before an object or a number: the action is complete.
- At the end of the sentence, or before : the situation has changed.
- A duration with at the end as well: the time counts up to now.
- before the verb: no for that verb.
- before the verb and at the end: “not any more”, or a changed plan.
- before it: “too” or “so”.
- , or before the verb: “about to”.
- In , or after or following a verb: liǎo, “understand” or “can”.
The same list as a table, with one example each:
| Pattern | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| verb + + object | done | |
| … + at the end | new situation | |
| … + ？ / ？ | has it happened? | ？ |
| verb + + time + | so far, still going | |
| + verb | did not happen | |
| + … + | not any more | |
| + adjective + | too, so | |
| / + … + | about to | |
| verb + + (liǎo) | can't |
Common questions
Is 了 the past tense in Chinese?
No. after a verb marks an action as complete, and that action can be in the future. Many past sentences have no , especially ones about habits or states, like .
What is the difference between 了 and 过?
marks an action as completed. means you have had the experience at some time. means “I've been to Beijing (at some point)”. It does not say when, or whether you are there now.
Why does “不了，谢谢” mean “no, thanks”?
It is with the change-of-state , read bù le. It means “not any more”: you do not want more, or you have changed your mind. It is a polite way to refuse more food or another drink.
不了，谢谢。
No, thanks.
Is 了 pronounced le or liǎo?
As a grammar word, it is le, in the neutral tone. Inside words like , and in “can” and “can't” forms such as , it is liǎo.
Sources
Example sentences come from Tatoeba under CC BY 2.0 FR. Each example links to the original sentence and names its contributor. We converted the sentences from traditional to simplified characters, and we wrote the English translations.
Word frequency: SUBTLEX-CH (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), CC BY 4.0. Sentence counts come from the subset of Tatoeba's Mandarin sentences that we use for dictionary examples, not from all Chinese on Tatoeba. The count of sentences with a final is a string match, so it also includes a few sentences where the last is liǎo.
Dengdeng Dictionary's 了 entry lists both readings, le and liǎo, with their senses and stroke order. Then try a story preview at your level and check where each is: after a verb, or at the end of a sentence.
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