HSK 5 · VERSION 2.0#31

Advanced “le” with Complements

补语结构中的“了”

bǔyǔ jiégòu zhōng de le

How it works

In more advanced Chinese, 了 (le) can appear together with complements such as:

result complements

degree complements

direction complements

duration complements

At HSK5 level, students should understand how 了 (le) works together with the whole predicate structure, not only with the main verb.

他气得一句话也说不出来了。

Tā qì de yí jù huà yě shuō bu chūlái le.

He was so angry that he could not say a single word.

这个问题已经解释得很清楚了，没有必要再重复。

Zhège wèntí yǐjīng jiěshì de hěn qīngchu le, méiyǒu bìyào zài chóngfù.

This question has already been explained very clearly, so there is no need to repeat it.

天越来越黑了，我们最好赶快下山。

Tiān yuèláiyuè hēi le, wǒmen zuìhǎo gǎnkuài xià shān.

It is getting darker and darker, so we had better go down the mountain quickly.

At this level, 了 (le) often marks the overall sentence state or change, not just one single verb action.