ASPecT
17.1你看完了那本书吗？
你看完了那本書嗎？
Nǐ kànwán le nǎ běn shū ma?
Have you finished reading that book?你看完了那本书没有？
你看完了那本書沒有？
Nǐ kànwán le nǎ běn shū méi yǒu?
Have you finished reading that book?
C37.417.1.2 Perfective 了 le in sequence sentences
Perfective aspect 了 le may be used in narrative sequence sentences that can be translated as
‘after VP 1 , VP 2 .’ 了 le can co-occur with other markers of sequence in these sentences: the
adverb 就 jiù and the noun 以后/以後 yǐhòu ‘after.’我吃了饭以后就给你打电话。
我吃了飯以後就給你打電話。
Wǒ chī le fàn yǐhòu jiù gěi nǐ dǎ diànhuà.
After I eat I will phone you.
Sometimes, perfective 了 le is the only explicit marker of sequence in a sequence sentence.你到了宿舍请给我打电话。
你到了宿舍請給我打電話。
Nǐ dào le sùshè qǐng gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà.
(After) you arrive at the dorm, phone me.
Sequence can also be inferred without perfective 了 le.我回家以后就给你打电话。
我回家以後就給你打電話。
Wǒ huí jiā yǐhòu jiù gěi nǐ dǎ diànhuà.
After I return home, I will phone you.
To indicate that the entire sequence is a complete bounded event, include perfective 了 le in
the second clause, following the guidelines for the placement of perfective 了 le in section
17.1.1.1.他吃了饭就走了。
他吃了飯就走了。
Tā chī le fàn jiù zǒu le.
After he ate, he left.
学生做完了功课就交给老师了。
學生做完了功課就交給老師了。
Xuésheng zuòwán le gōngkè jiù jiāo gěi lǎoshī le.
After the students finished their work, they handed it to the teacher.These sentences have two instances of 了 le. The one that follows the first verb indicates
sequence. The one that occurs in the second clause indicates that the sequence is a complete
event.
C42.2.3, 42.2.417.1.3 Perfective aspect vs. past tense
Aspect is different from tense. While aspect focuses on the internal or external properties of
events, tense anchors events to time, marking them as past, present, or future. There is some