了, 着 and 过: talking about completed and ongoing actions

…了 (change of state)HSK 1

了 at the end of a sentence signals that a situation has changed — something new is happening now.

中午下雨了。 — At noon it started to rain.

Seen in 下雨了妈妈的生日我的狗请坐，请喝茶 +4

verb + 了 — completed actionHSK 1

What does 了 mean after a verb?

了 right after a verb shows the action is finished or has happened: 买了 = bought.

我买了五个小苹果。 — I bought five small apples.

Seen in 买水果去商店太热了去朋友家做客

是…的 — pointing out who did itHSK 1

How do you stress who did something in Chinese?

Use 是…的 to stress who did something (or when, where, how it was done): 是妈妈买的 = it was Mom who bought it.

是我妈妈买的。 — It was my mom who bought it.

Seen in 我的杯子买手机成绩出来了

V + 着HSK 2

着 after a verb shows one action happening alongside another, like smiling while speaking.

老师笑着说。 — The teacher said, smiling.

Seen in 请帮帮我红色的裙子照顾生病的朋友中秋节的月亮 +5

已经…了 — alreadyHSK 2

已经 before a verb or time expression, with 了 at the end, shows something has already happened.

已经十点了，你怎么还没起床？ — It's already ten o'clock — why aren't you up yet?

Seen in 已经十点了过生日喝牛奶吃鸡蛋手表和时间 +1

要…了 (about to happen)HSK 2

要 + verb + 了 says something is going to happen soon: 他要来北京了。

他要来北京了。 — He is coming to Beijing soon.

Seen in 去机场新年快乐坐公共汽车

V 了 V (do briefly)HSK 2

Repeating a verb with 了 in between means doing it briefly or casually.

看了看手机,就睡觉了。

Seen in 在酒店和同事吃午饭

还没 + VHSK 2

还没 before a verb says the action hasn't happened yet.

我还没睡觉。 — I haven't gone to sleep yet.

Seen in 没问题等公共汽车

正在 + V（right in the middle of doing something）HSK 2

正在 emphasizes that an action is happening right now, even more clearly than 在 alone.

我正在做蛋糕。— I'm making a cake right now.

Seen in 你在做什么动物园

就要…了 (about to)HSK 3

就要 + verb + 了 means something is going to happen soon, often with a time word: 下个月我就要上班了。

火车就要开了。— The train is about to leave.

Seen in 面试打算去旅行怎么办担心考试

verb + 了 + duration (how long you did something)HSK 3

Put 了 right after the verb, then add how long — 找了很久 means 'looked for a long time.'

他找工作找了很久。— He had been job-hunting for a long time.

Seen in 恭喜堵车

How to use this page

These 11 patterns all do the same job in Chinese, so they are worth seeing side by side — the differences between them are easier to feel when they are next to each other than when they are spread across six HSK levels. They range from HSK 1–3.

Grammar sticks through reading, not through lists. Each entry links to the reading it was taken from. Skim the page, then go read one of them and come back when a sentence stops making sense.

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