时量补语

RuleVerb + le + duration complement (+ object): the length of time the action lasts goes after the verb.

Curiosity

In "I studied Chinese for three years," where does "three years" go? Putting it at the end like English is wrong.

Intuition

How long the action lasted (the duration) comes right after the verb, measuring the action's "length." With an object, the duration precedes the object (state the lasting first, the object after).

Visualization

Reorder the English-like [I][study][Chinese][three years] into Chinese [I][study-le][three years][Chinese]. The duration moves before the object.

English-like (duration at end)

我subject学verb汉语object三年duration complement

Chinese order (duration before object)

我subject学了verb三年duration complement汉语object

Essence

Verb + le + duration + (de) + object (xue le san nian hanyu), or repeat the verb (xue hanyu xue le san nian). The duration precedes the object. If still ongoing, add another le at the end (yijing xue le san nian le, "have been studying for three years"). It marks length, not a point in time.

Examples

我学了三年汉语。

I studied Chinese for three years.

他睡了八个小时。

He slept for eight hours.

我们等了半个小时。

We waited for half an hour.

Mini-quiz

Which has the correct order for "I exercised for one hour"?