This is one of the simplest of all Chinese particles, one which you probably encountered in Chapter 1 of your textbook. The mother of all Newbie conundrums: 了.

This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive, comprehensive study of 了, but rather a guide as you embark on your Chinese grammar journey (or need a brushing up)!

Let's study the 4 most basic uses of 了 now.

1. After a verb or adjective, indicating completion

In its most basic incarnation, 了 is usually placed after a verb (or occasionally adjective) to indicate completion of an action, which usually indicates the past tense. Yet there are cases when it is used to indicate the expected completion of an action, in which case it is not necessarily past tense.

Examples

2. End of sentence, indicating change of circumstance

Beyond signalling the completion of a specific verb, adding 了 to the end of a sentence shows a circumstance has changed, and a new state exists.

Examples

3. Excessive!

A truly wonderful grammar pattern absolutely worth mastering, 太…了 is a set pattern expressing an excessive amount or extent of an adjective or adverb. Learn this pattern, it will serve you well.

Examples

4. Able or unable

Finally, the major usage of 了 isn’t even pronounced le! When preceded by either 得 or 不, it is almost always pronounced “liǎo“. In the case of 不了, it indicates the inability or impossibility of completing the verb preceding it. In the case of 得了, it means to successfully complete or finish the task which preceded it, or the ability to complete it.

Examples

So…Remember this

1) 了 is NOT equivalent of past tense. It indicates the completion of an action or change of status, and can be used in any tense. It is not the English equivalent of the suffix -ed. Don’t confuse 了 with 过.

2) 了 is NOT always pronounced “le”. In cases preceded by either 不 or 得 (or in words meaning “to understand” like 了解), it is usually pronounced “liǎo”.

3) You’ll learn more by watching 10 minutes of FluentU videos than scouring the internet for detailed dissertations of small grammar points. Study accordingly.