Help with the confusions around 了?

Question

So I am having a bit of a confusion with the use of 了. So the teacher gave me a sentence which is this: \n我买了两个苹果。\nShe said that V+了+object requires the object to have specified quantity. After that she gave this sentence:\n我买了苹果了\nShe said that if the object have no specified quantity or information there need to be a 了 after it. I ask her if “我买苹果了” is correct or not and she said it is true colloquially which really baffled me.\nCan someone tell me where to put 了 in a sentence that have objects but have unspecified quantity (like the one above)

Answer 1

First what you need to do is take "grammar" out of your mind completely. Because there is no grammar in Chinese. It's all about where the characters are placed in a given sentence.

When I was younger I equated 了 with the past tense, which I think is common. My mistake was relating Chinese to English, apples and oranges.

了 is used either to describe a continuation of an event or an event that has occurred/changed. You will often find 了 at the end of a sentence, but not always. Also, 了 is I would say seldom used for verbs. But mostly it's used to describe situations. Finally 了 has to pronunciations and therefore two different meanings, le5 and liao3.

Examples:

我被老板逼迫走了。

我了解。

有什么大不了？

Answer 2

The "rule" is that 了 directly follows the verb when an amount (or other modifier) is specified: 我买了两个苹果，but follows the object in the absence of specifics: 我买苹果了. In reality, as Jun T. says, you'll hear both forms when nothing is specified. The thing to remember is to put the 了 directly after the verb when an amount (or other quality) is specified. The "change of situation" 了 does come at the end of a sentence or clause, but it is not the case that every sentence final 了 is a "change of situation" 了；sentence final 了 can, and often does, indicate completed action.

Answer 3

"了" is tricky in usage and it confuses many Chinese language learners. Here are tips for you to get better understanding of using 了.

Two common usage of 了 in sentences.

(1) S + V 了 + O。

It means the action is done. This 了 is usually defined as "action completed 了". To take your sentence

as an example, 我买了苹果 the meaning of it focuses on the verb/action "买" is done.

(2) S+ VO + 了。

When 了 is placed in the end of the sentence, it usually carries the meaning of situation changed. This

了 is usually defined as "new situation 了". Just as your example sentence, 我买苹果了, it implies that I

finally/eventually got(bought) apples which I meant to get a few days ago but for some reasons I didn't

do it until the situation of "getting apples" occurred.

Here are sentences for you to practice.

How to say the following sentences in Chinese with 了?

1. I ate dinner at 7:30 pm last night.
2. I finally ate dinner at 7:30 pm last night. ( Something prevented me from having dinner earlier.)

Answer key:

1. 我昨天晚上七点半吃了 晚饭。 (telling the fact)
2. 我昨天晚上七点半吃晚饭 了。 (telling the situation changed)

Well, the usage of 了 is quite complicated, the explanation above is just part of it. Hope this would help you get a bit better understanding of 了. :)

.

Answer 4

If the object has no specified quantity, you can put "了“either right after the verb or the end of the sentence. ”我买了苹果“，” 我买苹果了“。