▎了1 , le, (Ptc), Followed by Time-Duration (2)

 

Function This pattern indicates the duration of a completed instance.

1 日本來的朋友在臺北玩了三天。

Rìběn lái de péngyǒu zài Táiběi wánle sān tiān.

My friend from Japan visited Taipei for three days.

2 老師在美國住了一年。

Lǎoshī zài Měiguó zhùle yì nián.

Our teacher stayed in the US for a year.

3 李小姐在語言中心工作了十個月。

Lǐ xiǎojiě zài yǔyán zhōngxīn gōngzuòle shí ge yuè.

Miss Li worked in the language center for ten month (and left).

 

Structures The primary structure is verb＋Time Duration.

(1) If the verb is transitive and has an object after it, the verb must be repeated.

1 他租房子租了半年。

Tā zū fángzi zūle bàn nián.

He rented the house for half a year.

2 他住臺北住了三年。

Tā zhù Táiběi zhùle sān nián.

He lived in Taipei for three years.

(2) No verb repetition is needed if the object is moved to the very front of the sentence.

1 房子他只租了半年。

Fángzi tā zhǐ zūle bàn nián.

He rented the house for only half a year.

2 臺北他只住了三年。

Táiběi tā zhǐ zhùle sān nián.

He lived in Taipei for only three years.

Negation：An intransitive verb receives the negation. If a transitive verb has its object following it, it must be repeated before it is negated.

1 他沒住幾天（就走了）。

Tā méi zhù jǐ tiān (jiù zǒu le).

He didn’t stay very long and left.

2 他看書沒看多久，眼睛就痛了。

Tā kànshū méi kàn duōjiǔ, yǎnjīng jiù tòng le.

He didn’t spend a long time reading, but his eyes started hurting.

Questions：

1 那間房子你租了一年半嗎？

Nà jiān fángzi nǐ zūle yì nián bàn ma?

Did you rent that house for one and half years?

2 你是不是在這裡等了一個鐘頭？

Nǐ shìbúshì zài zhèlǐ děngle yí ge zhōngtóu?

You waited here for an hour, right?

3 陳老闆去年是不是在紐約住了半年？

Chén lǎobǎn qùnián shìbúshì zài Niǔyuē zhùle bàn nián?

The Boss Chen stayed in New York for half a year last year, right?