Completed Action: 了, 有, 過 and 吂

01

Completion Is Not Past Tense

The particle says the action reached its end, not that it happened long ago. A sentence with a time word and no particle is perfectly ordinary, and a sentence with the particle can describe something finished only moments ago. What the particle contributes is the sense of an action rounded off.

02

有 — Affirming That It Happened

有 (rhiuˋyiû) before the verb insists that the event did take place, in the way English stresses did in I did see it. It is used to confirm something, to answer a doubt, or to underline a stretch of time that has genuinely passed.

• 𠊎有九年無看著你了！

  ngai rhiuˋ giuˊ ngien mo konˇ doˊ ngi leˋngài yiû kiú ngièn mò khon tó ngì lê

  I haven't seen you for nine years!

• 有幾多年了？

  rhiuˋ giˊ doˋ ngien leˋyiû kí tô ngièn lê

  How many years has it been?

03

The Negative

A completed action is denied with 無 (momò), never with 毋 (mm̀), and the completion particle drops away entirely in the negative. There is nothing corresponding to English didn't beyond the negator itself.

• 𠊎無看著。

  ngai mo konˇ doˊngài mò khon tó

  I didn't see it.

04

Asking Whether It Is Done

A question about completion is not built with the completion particle. 吂 (mangmàng) closes the sentence instead, asking whether the event has happened yet and leaving open that it still may. The answer that confirms it goes back to 了 (leˋlê) in the ordinary way.

• 若行李收好吂？

  ngia hang liˊ shiuˋ hoˊ mangngià hàng lí shiû hó màng

  Is your luggage packed yet?

• 你開門吂？

  ngi koiˋ mun mangngì khôi mùn màng

  Have you opened the door yet?

• 開了。

  koiˋ leˋkhôi lê

  I have opened it.

The other way of asking frames the verb instead: 有 (rhiuˋyiû) in front of it, 無 (momò) at the end. This one asks whether the event took place at all, without the sense of yet.

• 你有看著無？

  ngi rhiuˋ konˇ doˊ mongì yiû khon tó mò

  Did you see it?

05

過 — Having Done It Before

A different question is whether something has ever been done at all, and that is marked by 過 (goˇko) attached to the verb. It does not report that a particular occasion finished; it says the speaker has the experience of it at some point in the past, matching English have ever ….

• 𠊎先前看過。

  ngai senˋ cien konˇ goˇngài sên tshièn khon ko

  I have seen it before.

• 𠊎頭擺識去過法國。

  ngai teu baiˊ shid hiˇ goˇ fab guedngài thèu pái shit hi ko fap koet

  I have been to France before.

• 你有聽過這隻樂隊無？

  ngi rhiuˋ tangˇ goˇ liaˊ zhag ngogˋ chui+ mongì yiû thang ko liá chak ngo̍k chhůi mò

  Have you heard of this band?

An adverb naming an earlier time regularly stands in front, and the experience marker leaves the verb otherwise untouched.

06

Two Jobs for One Particle

The same 了 (leˋlê) also closes a sentence to mark a newly arrived situation rather than a completed action. Position separates them: directly after the verb it completes the action, at the very end of the sentence it announces the change.

• 𠊎在六月參加了斯瓦希裡語課程。

  ngai diˇ liug ngiedˋ camˋ gaˋ leˋ siiˋ ngaˊ hiˋ liˊ ngiˋ koˇ changngài ti liuk ngie̍t tshâm kâ lê sṳ̂ ngá hî lí ngî kho chhàng

  I took a Swahili language course in June.

• 𠊎既經摎手機仔借分你了。

  ngai giˇ ginˋ lauˋ shiuˊ giˋ er ziaˇ bunˋ ngi leˋngài ki kîn lâu shiú kî èr tsia pûn ngì lê

  I've already lent you my cell phone.