38 Talking about change, new situations, and changing situations
Mandarin has a number of ways to indicate that a situation represents a change from the past
or that it is in the process of change. 38.1 and 38.3 present grammatical patterns that are used
to talk about change. 38.4 presents words that are used to talk about change.38.1 Indicating that a situation represents a change
To indicate that a situation represents a change, add the particle 了 le to the end of the sentence
that describes the situation. We refer to this use of 了 le as ‘sentence final 了 le.’ Here are
the most common types of change associated with sentence final 了 le. Notice that in English
this sense of change is sometimes expressed with the word ‘become’ (verb) or (verb) ‘now’ or
‘gotten’ (verb).38.1.1 New information for the addressee
他们订婚了！
他們訂婚了！
Tāmen dìng hūn le!
They have become engaged!
我有两个孩子了。
我有兩個孩子了。
Wǒ yǒu liǎng gè háizi le.
I have two children now (and this is information that is new for you).38.1.2 Change of state
When the main verb of a sentence is a stative verb, sentence final 了 le indicates a change
of state.东西都贵了。
東西都貴了。
Dōngxi dōu guì le.
Things have become expensive.
他有女朋友了。
Tā yǒu nǚ péngyou le.
He has a girlfriend now. (He didn’t have one before.)