le
[makes an exclamation]
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我吃了饭。
wǒ chī le fàn.
I ate.
他走了。
tā zǒu le.
He left.
她来了。
tā lái le.
She came.
我吃完了。
wǒ chī wán le.
I'm done eating.
他来了。
tā lái le.
He's here.
我买了一本书。
wǒ mǎi le yī běn shū.
I bought a book.
完成 (wánchéng)
complete
结束 (jiéshù)
end
已经 (yǐjīng)
already
已经 (yǐjīng)
already
完成 (wánchéng)
complete
没 (méi)
not
未 (wèi)
not yet
没 (méi)
not
未 (wèi)
not yet
The Chinese character 了 (liǎo) is composed of two parts: the radical 糸 (mì) and the phonetic component 了 (liǎo). The radical 糸 originally meant "silk" or "thread," and it is often used in characters related to textiles or clothing. In the character 了, the radical 糸 is used to indicate that the character is related to the concept of "completion" or "accomplishment." The phonetic component 了 (liǎo) is a phonetic loan character that was originally used to represent the word "liǎo," which means "to understand" or "to know." Over time, the character 了 came to be used as a grammatical particle to indicate the completion of an action or the attainment of a state. In modern Chinese, 了 is one of the most commonly used characters, and it plays an important role in the formation of sentences and the expression of grammatical meaning.
