Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

Specifying the length of an action with a duration phrase

39.1

Pattern 4: object noun phrase, verb + duration

The object noun phrase may occur at the beginning of the sentence, before the subject, as

a topic. The verb is then directly followed by the duration phrase. This pattern cannot be used

when the object noun phrase is a pronoun or a default object.

这个问题，我已经想了很久了。

這個問題，我已經想了很久了。

Zhège wèntí, wǒ yǐjing xiǎng le hěn jiǔ le.

This problem, I have already thought about (it) for a long time.

中文，我已经学了四年了。

中文，我已經學了四年了。

Zhōngwén, wǒ yǐjing xué le sìnián le.

Chinese, I’ve already studied (it) for four years.

中文，我至少会学两年。

中文，我至少會學兩年。

Zhōngwén, wǒ zhìshǎo huì xué liǎng nián.

Chinese, at the very least I will study (it) for two years.

C57.1.2.1

39.1.3 duration vs. time when

Note the difference between phrases that indicate duration and those that indicate time when.

Time phrases that indicate the duration of a situation always occur after the verb.

我学了两个小时了。

我學了兩個小時了。

Wǒ xué le liǎng gè xiǎoshí le.

I studied for two hours.

Time phrases that indicate the time when a situation takes place always occur before the verb:

我昨天学了中文。

我昨天學了中文。

Wǒ zuótiān xué le Zhōngwén.

I studied Chinese yesterday.

A sentence may include both a time when phrase and a duration phrase.

我昨天学了两个小时。

我昨天學了兩個小時。

Wǒ zuótiān xué le liǎng gè xiǎoshí.

Yesterday I studied for two hours.

39.1.4 indicating how long it has been that something has not occurred

In Mandarin, only situations that occur can be described in terms of their duration. If a situation

does not occur, the duration pattern cannot be used to describe it. To indicate the length of time

that something has not occurred, put the time phrase before the [prepositional phrase +] verb

or verb phrase.

我两天没睡觉。

我兩天沒睡覺。

Wǒ liǎng tiān méi shuì jiào.

I haven’t slept for two days.