I can say what the weather is like and that it has changed — 冷了, 下雨了！, 不下雪了, — and not confuse “has become” with “was”: 昨天很冷 — no 了.
The 了 of change: “now it's …”
The 了 of change: “now it's …”
What for: saying what the weather is like and that it has changed. Question: 天气怎么样？(Tiānqì zěnmeyàng?) The answer takes 很, as with any adjective, and no 是: “天气很好。(Tiānqì hěn hǎo.)”
下雨 — it's raining, 下雪 — it's snowing (下 here means “to fall”); Chinese needs no “it”. 雨 and 雪 are the rain and the snow themselves: 雨很大 (Yǔ hěn dà). 晴 — clear, 阴 — cloudy; in a forecast it's short: 明天晴 (Míngtiān qíng).
了 at the end of the sentence means “it has become, now it's so”: “下雪了！(Xià xuě le!)” — it's started snowing (it wasn't before). With 不 it means “not anymore”: 不忙了 (bù máng le). Here 了 is short, in the neutral tone.
Compare in the table: 很 — simply is; 了 — has become; 太…了 — too (you know this one); 不…了 — not anymore.
了 is not a past tense. English marks the past with “was”; Chinese leaves that to the time word, not to 了: “昨天的天气很好。(Zuótiān de tiānqì hěn hǎo.)” — the weather was good yesterday: no 了.
Common mistakes:
• ×昨天的天气很好了 → 昨天的天气很好。(Zuótiān de tiānqì hěn hǎo.) — “yesterday” doesn't call for 了
• ×今天是热 → 今天很热 (Jīntiān hěn rè) (是 doesn't go before an adjective)
• ×天气了冷 → 天气冷了 (Tiānqì lěng le) (了 goes after the adjective).
Is, has become, too, no longer
| Say | Means |
|---|---|
| 很忙 (hěn máng) | busy (it just is) |
| 忙了 (máng le) | has gotten busy (wasn't before) |
| 太忙了 (tài máng le) | too busy |
| 不忙了 (bù máng le) | no longer busy (was before) |
Lesson notes
The 了 of change: “now it's …”
What for: saying what the weather is like and that it has changed. Question: 天气怎么样？(Tiānqì zěnmeyàng?) The answer takes 很, as with any adjective, and no 是: “天气很好。(Tiānqì hěn hǎo.)”
下雨 — it's raining, 下雪 — it's snowing (下 here means “to fall”); Chinese needs no “it”. 雨 and 雪 are the rain and the snow themselves: 雨很大 (Yǔ hěn dà). 晴 — clear, 阴 — cloudy; in a forecast it's short: 明天晴 (Míngtiān qíng).
了 at the end of the sentence means “it has become, now it's so”: “下雪了！(Xià xuě le!)” — it's started snowing (it wasn't before). With 不 it means “not anymore”: 不忙了 (bù máng le). Here 了 is short, in the neutral tone.
Compare in the table: 很 — simply is; 了 — has become; 太…了 — too (you know this one); 不…了 — not anymore.
了 is not a past tense. English marks the past with “was”; Chinese leaves that to the time word, not to 了: “昨天的天气很好。(Zuótiān de tiānqì hěn hǎo.)” — the weather was good yesterday: no 了.
Common mistakes:
• ×昨天的天气很好了 → 昨天的天气很好。(Zuótiān de tiānqì hěn hǎo.) — “yesterday” doesn't call for 了
• ×今天是热 → 今天很热 (Jīntiān hěn rè) (是 doesn't go before an adjective)
• ×天气了冷 → 天气冷了 (Tiānqì lěng le) (了 goes after the adjective).