Talk:了

Is User:68.194.108.16's contribution correct?? --Connel MacKenzie 03:56, 15 May 2005 (UTC)

Most likely. I've been confused by this notation on pages before (e.g. working on User:Muke/字) but have learned a bit since then: namely, that ㄹ before ㅣ or a palatalized vowel is silent in Sino-Korean, and according to the rules of McCune-Reischauer shouldn't be romanized at all, and presumably that's what this is supposed to represent. —Muke Tever 04:32, 15 May 2005 (UTC)

as a verb

It cannot be used as a verb... so "to finish" is incorrect. It is used as an auxiliary verb with a verb in the perfect tense.— This unsigned comment was added by 88.108.228.121 (talk).

It can be used as a verb. When used as a verb, it is pronounced liao. 98.118.85.76 23:50, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

This looks wrong

你吃了以后，告诉我。nǐ dào le yǐhòu ， gàosù wǒ. After you've finished eating, give me a call. (future)

I think "dào" should be transliterated "chi [flat tone]", and I think the English should be, "Tell me when you are done eating." I am not a native Chinese speaker, so I did not make the edit myself. 98.118.85.76 23:53, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

I checked this translation with a native speaker. you are right. I put your translation instead. Meihouwang (talk) 18:57, 30 March 2014 (UTC)

了 and past tenses

It seems the “now” definition of 了 seems to take precedence over the tense definition. I have been told 我不明白了 means “i do not understand now”, not “i didn’t understand”. So if 我吃了这个苹果 “I ate the apple” were 我不吃了这个苹果, is it “I didn’t eat the apple”? and without the subject, as 我不吃了, is it now something that resembles “I regurgitated it”?? It was recommended to instead insert a time element into the sentence, 我以前吃 “I [have] not eaten before”

Can someone add something into the article to address this? And is 過 useful in any example? Charlieb000 (talk) 05:19, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

Etymology

What does the fact this character resembles a baby have to do with its present meaning? Johnny Shiz (talk) 20:58, 8 May 2016 (UTC)

@Justinrleung Johnny Shiz (talk) 21:01, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

Overview of 了 and articles in Chinese grammar

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=45222 —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 23:03, 9 December 2019 (UTC)

Teochew

http://www.chaozhoudaily.com/czrb/html/2018-06/19/content_1806639.htm

有些字词相同的语言片段，因变调不同，词语之间的语法关系也不同。“食了”， 如表示吃完了，是动补结构，变调情形是：食8-4了2；如表示吃过了，是动词+助词，表动作完成，“食”不变调，“了”念轻声。

—Fish bowl (talk) 00:23, 16 April 2023 (UTC)