Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

39 Talking about duration and frequency

When we talk about duration, we can specify the length of an action (‘we walked for an hour’),

or we can focus on the ongoing duration of the action without reference to its length (‘while

we were walking, it started to rain’). When we talk about frequency, we indicate how often

an action occurs. This chapter will show you how to express both duration and frequency in

Mandarin.

39.1 Specifying the length of an action with a duration phrase

Duration phrases can be used to indicate how long an action occurs. To indicate the duration

of an action, follow the verb with a time phrase:

subject + verb + duration

Only open-ended actions have duration. Open-ended actions include 买/買 mǎi ‘to shop,’

学/學 xué ‘to study,’ 看 kàn ‘to look at,’ ‘to watch,’ ‘to read,’ 吃 chī ‘to eat,’ 睡 shuì ‘to sleep,’

唱 chàng ‘to sing,’ 洗 xǐ ‘to wash,’ etc.

C13.5, 18.1, 18.2

39.1.1 indicating duration when there is no object noun phrase

When the action verb does not have an object noun phrase, the duration phrase simply follows

the verb. If the verb is suffixed with 了 le, the duration phrase follows 了 le.

我想在中国住一年。

我想在中國住一年。

Wǒ xiǎng zài Zhōngguó zhù yīnián.

I plan to live in China for a year.

他病了三天。

Tā bìng le sāntiān.

He was sick for three days.

39.1.2 indicating duration when the verb takes an object

When the verb takes an object noun phrase, duration may be indicated using the following

sentence patterns. In all of these patterns, the verb is followed by its object or by a duration

phrase. A single verb is never followed directly by both an object and a duration phrase, with

one exception. If the object is a pronoun, the pronoun may occur after the verb and before the

duration phrase.