Le 了 once and for all.

[cintiaghimel]

Can I roughly say that sometimes Le 了 shows that something was done in the past and therefore is a past aspect marker? I'm asking this because to me (in some cases) Le 了 is pretty much like a perfect past tense, but there's something else about it and this is why I never saw it described as a past marker. I saw the other post with a very nice explanation by Altair, but it also didn't mention the past itself...always something that is complete or has been done.

[YellowRiver]

yeah~actually 了 can be consider as a past time marker in some sentence,but in those sentence there are also some other words which help to show that it is a past time action

e.g: i have eat my breakfast 我吃过早餐了 “过”means already(right?i'am actually an english learner whose native language is chinese,hehe).

if u say 我吃早餐了 i think it means that i will go to eat my breakfast now

but if someone ask u 你吃早餐了么？(have u eat ur breakfast?) and u answer 我吃了, it means i have eat my breakfast already

anyway it depends~

[anonymoose]

Can I roughly say that sometimes Le 了 shows that something was done in the past and therefore is a past aspect marker?

In fact 了 does usually show that something was done in the past.

However, 了 cannot be said to be a past aspect marker, because that is not the main function of 了. Indicating past actions is only a subset of all the posible meanings using 了.

了 shows completed actions. However, this 'completed' just means the notion of completion. In reality, it could be relating to the completion of a future action which has yet to take place. This is one reason why 了 cannot be said to be a marker of the past. For example:

你回家了就开始煮饭给我好吗

Please can you start cooking for me when you get home.

Here, the 了 signifies the completed action of getting home. Yet it is refering to a future time.

Another reason why 了 should not be considered as a marker of the past is that some sentences in the past in English do not use 了 in Chinese, particularly when emphasising the action was not completed or did not take place.

I didn't take the bus to work this morning. (Past tense in English.)

我今早没坐公交车上班。(No 了 here because no action was completed.)

Also, there are other instances where a past tense is used in English, but 了 is not used in Chinese. For example:

我刚才看到你的猫。

I saw your cat just now. (Past tense in English, but no 了 in Chinese.)

Of course, this discussion is also neglecting the use of 了 as a sentence particle indicating change.

[cintiaghimel]

Now I can understand...Thanks very much for the explanation.