Change of State with 了

01

On Adjectives

This is where the particle is furthest from anything English has. Attached to an adjective it turns a description into a development: not it is late but it has got late. English needs a different verb — become, get, grow — where Hakka adds one syllable.

• 這忒貴了。

  iaˋ tedˋ gui leˋyá thet kui lé

  This has become too expensive.

• 佢忒細了。

  giˇ tedˋ se leˋkì thet se lé

  It has become too small.

02

With 既經

An adverb meaning already often stands before the verb while 了 (leˋlé) closes the sentence. The two work together: the adverb places the change in the past, the particle marks that its result holds now.

• 𠊎既經摎手機仔借分你了。

  ngaiˇ gi ginˊ lauˊ suˋ giˊ eˋ jia bunˊ nˇ leˋngài ki kîn lâu sú kî é chia pûn ǹ lé

  I've already lent you my cell phone.

• 這間店仔既經關門了。

  iaˋ gienˊ diam eˋ gi ginˊ guanˊ munˇ leˋyá kiên tiam é ki kîn kôan mùn lé

  This shop has already closed.

03

Announcing a Decision

Because it marks a newly arrived situation, 了 (leˋlé) is the natural way to announce that something must now happen — that it is time to leave, or that a state of affairs has just changed for the worse.

• 巴士慢分了。

  ba siiˋ man funˊ leˋpa sṳ́ man fûn lé

  The bus is late now.

• 𠊎愛轉了。

  ngaiˇ oi zonˋ leˋngài oi chón lé

  I have to go home now.

• 𠊎愛去超市了。

  ngaiˇ oi hi ceuˊ sii leˋngài oi hi chhêu sṳ lé

  I'm off to the supermarket now.

04

Reaching an Age or a Stage

Growing older, finishing school, falling ill — anything that moves a person from one state into the next takes 了 (leˋlé). English marks the same shift with now, or with a perfect tense, or with nothing at all.

• 𠊎兜个妹仔讀大學了。

  ngaiˇ deuˊ ge moi eˋ tug tai hog leˋngài têu ke moi é thu̍k thai ho̍k lé

  Our daughter is in college now.

• 吾妹仔二十歲了。

  ngaˊ moi eˋ ngi siib se leˋngâ moi é ngi sṳ̍p se lé

  My daughter is twenty years old now.

• 佢失業了。

  giˇ siidˋ ngiab leˋkì sṳt ngia̍p lé

  She's lost her job.

• 你發病仔了。

  nˇ bodˋ piang eˋ leˋǹ pot phiang é lé

  You've fallen ill.

05

In Questions

A question can carry the particle too, asking what the situation has now become rather than what it simply is. This is the ordinary way to ask the time or someone's age, both of which are treated as states that keep changing.

• 這下幾多點了？

  iaˋ ha giˋ doˊ diamˋ leˋyá ha kí tô tiám lé

  What time is it now?

• 佢幾多歲了？

  giˇ giˋ doˊ se leˋkì kí tô se lé

  How old is she?

06

Not a Past Tense

The particle marks a change of situation, not a point in time. A sentence about a completed action puts the particle directly after the verb instead, and the two positions carry quite different meanings — one says the action finished, the other says the world is now different.