Have you ever regretting doing a favor for a Chinese friend? Have they ever regretted asking you to do one? Share the dirt with us in today's lesson.

Hello Scott,

Thank you for your positive comment, we're glad to hear it! 😄

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Ngai

Team ChineseClass101.com

This is a very good lesson! Especially with the 了 explanation 😄.

你好 robert groulx,

You are very welcome. 😇

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Good luck with your language studies.

Kind regards,

雷文特

Team ChineseClass101.com

thanks for the lesson

my favorite phrase is 我照顾宠物。

robert

Hi 杰米

Thank you for your comment.

We appreciate your feedback and we will keep it in mind while working on new content and material for the site.

Regards,

Laura

Team ChineseClass101.com

These lessons are helpful, but all of the mistakes/inaccuracies/inconsistencies I find in just about every lesson drive me crazy.

At around the 8:30 mark, Echo is given the sentence "He did housework" to translate, but she doesn't use 了. So, she translates "He did housework" as "他做家务."

And she does the same thing for the other example sentences; David gives her sentences that are using the past tense, but she doesn't use 了 in any of her translations.

Then, the lesson goes on to explain that if you want to express something using the past tense, that we need to use 了. Echo then translates the sentence "He did housework" as "他做了家务," which is obviously different from the way she just translated it less than a minute ago.

Why would you do this? I can't wrap my head around it. Why doesn't someone who makes decisions around there raise their hand and say, "Maybe, David, you should say, 'He takes care of the house,' and keep it in the present tense, to help illustrate the difference between present and past tense, and not confuse people by given two different translations for the same sentence."

I understand that Chinese works that way, and you could very easily say, "昨天他做家务" and it would be the past tense with no need to use 了, but this is a beginner lesson and that aspect of the language isn't being explained here.

I notice that David has posted a little 'help wanted' message below, and while I doubt that the message is still in effect, please consider hiring me to simply look over the lesson materials to point out all of the things that are wrong or should simply be changed before recording the audio or releasing it for people to download.

Hi Aaron,

Thank you for your comment.

Hope you enjoy other lessons as well:smile:

Chloe

Team ChineseClass101.com

At 46 seconds of the review dialog it asks for the meaning of "to water plants" and it says shizai.

Other than that, i love this service. I've improved so much over the last few months. Much more than the classes i was taking at a nearby college.

thanks

Aaron

Such a good explanation for 了usage. I usually am very confused about it and now its getting more clear. 謝謝

@麥向敢,

关于这种“v ＋ object”的结构，标准的用法有两种：

一种是不把v和object分开，但是因为时间补语需要放在动词后面，所以需要重复动词，像这些句子：我看书看了一个小时了，我打篮球打了两个小时了。意思是从开始到现在已经过了这么长时间，我们不知道是不是会继续。

另一种情况就是把v和object分开，直接把时间补语放在动词后面，像这些句子：我打了两个小时篮球，他看了半个小时资料。

--Echo

你们好，

这是你们的例子。 我看书看了一个小时了。我也不明白这个语法点。

我打篮球了两个小时了。意思就是还没打完了，想继续玩，对吧。

也可以说，我打了两个小时篮球。

写一些句子。我学习了几个小时了。这个用法都要放在后面，对不对。

我打扫了房间了。我浏览了材料了。不知道。你能幫我嗎？

Hi guys,

Thanks for the feedback both positive and negative. On a bit of a related note, it may be worth mentioning that we're expanding and interested in hiring some extra help on the podcasting front. We're especially interested in hearing from native English speakers with good Chinese who are living in Beijing. If this sounds like you or someone you know, we'd encourage you to get in touch with us via email at contactus@ChineseClass101.com.

@richard,

Oh, this is such a sweet comment 谢谢 :grin:

--Echo

@Shi Shabai,

不用客气 （Bu4 yong4 ke4qi5 ) :smile:

We'll think about your suggestions and see if we can make some lessons basing on them. "Le" is one of the biggest problems for students and even for native Chinese speakers too. We'd like to introduce it little by little since it has so many complicated usages.

--Echo

@Echo,

even at my limited elementary level i don't think i have ever read(heard) a more thorough explanation and clear examples of “le” . that's a keeper.

@Student,

lighten up. you have a better , humorous, down to earth team in Brendan/Echo/David (and all) on the internet. just read the intro of each lessons. sounds like you are one of those dull, tree hugging student.

Now that you asked, Yeah.

I was asked to Bring my Friend mi-ling up North to pick up a "newcar"

actually it was a exspensive vehical. an Hour & a half oneway.

after 2 Hours i said i was heading Back. the next several times i went in the Restaurant where he worked he kind of ignored me & played Busy. his wife Fenny always had an Attitude. He did at least Buy Lunch.

its just odd that after the favor I felt used. things were fine Before

that. he was P whipped by Fenny anyway.

Dear Echo, Thank you so much for going to so much trouble to give such an extremely clear and detailed explanation. I really do appreciate it. I think one of the biggest challenges in learning Chinese is to achieve a complete mastery of 'le', so that it comes automatically, without having to think about it. It would be wonderful if at some stage there could be several lessons on the different uses and non-uses you have mentioned, with possibly some quizzes as well. I'm sure other students would welcome this, too. Once again, Wo feichang ganxie ninde reqing de zhi3dao3 he zhichi. Shi Shabai :smile:

@Shi Shabai,

There are some situations that you must not use "le".

1 If a verb does not indicate the change, and not to mention to finish it or not, we do not use "le" after it.

我姓王。 (Wo3 xing4 wang2.)

2 When there are two verbs used as parallel predicates, we use "le" after the second verb, but not the first one.

我认识并了解了他。(Wo3 ren4shi5 bing4 liao3jie3le5 ta1.)

3 When there are several verbs in one sentence, and when we need to use "le" there, we have to use "le" after the latter verb, but not the anterior verbs.

他去超市买了一些吃的。（Ta1 qu4 chao1shi4 mai3le5 yi1xie1 chi1de5.)

4 In the news report, to introduce what happened in the past, we do not add "le" after the verb.

去年三月，我在南方旅游。（Qu4nian2 san1yue4, wo3 zai4 nan2fang1 lv3you2.) (report a fact)

5 If a sentence does not mean the change happened, we do not add "le" after the sentence.

我们都为他高兴。(Wo3men5 dou1 wei4 ta1 gao1xing4.)

6 If there was something always happened in the past, we do not add "le" after the verb.

以前我身体不好，经常感冒。 （Yi3qian2 wo3 shen1ti3 bu4 hao3, jing1chang2 gan3mao4.)

There are some other special situations too, but these are some explanations in general.

--Echo

@Shi Shabai,

There are some situations that you must use "le" --

1 When there is a specific past time in the sentence, and the action is finished during the time, we must add "le" after the verb.

上周末，他去了日本。（Shang4 zhou1mo4, ta1 qu4le5 Ri4ben3.)

2 When there are two verbal phrases in a sentence, and when the first action was finished, the second action will happen, we must add "le" after the first verb.

看了信，她哭了。 （Kan4le5 xin4, ta1 ku1le5.)

3 When there are two parts in a sentence, and the first part indicates the condition, manner, and reason, while the second part indicates the result, we must add "le" after the verb of the second part.

在我的要求下，爸爸同意了。 （Zai4 wo3de5 yao1qiu2 xia4, ba4ba5 tong2yi4le5.)

--Echo

:smile: Chineseclass 101: Thank you so much for all your wonderful lessons, which I thoroughly enjoy, and which I feel are extremely well-planned and well-presented. They are, in fact, exactly what I had been hoping to find for a long time.

I just have one question concerning the inevitable 'le' particle, which is hopefully at last to be clarified by the excellent explanations in your lessons. My question is: When is it that one makes the distinction between using 'le' immediately after the verb, and when is it that one abbreviates it, in referring to the simple past or completion of an act? Is the decision simply left to the context? In other words, if one knows that the action took place in the past, is it more natural to omit the 'le' than to add it? Also, am I right in thinking that there are some verbs after which it is not possible to use 'le', even in referring to the past? Feichang ganxie!:smile: