I V'd for x long...

[Mai Kairong]

How do I say something like "I lived in China for 2 years" or "I worked at that company for 6 years" etc.

Thanks!

[shivasprogeny]

I think it's this:

I lived in China for 2 years = 我在中国住了两年。 Wo zai Zhongguo zhule liang nian.

By putting "le" right after the verb you make it past tense. There's no need for a preposition as there is in English, "for two years."

[glock]

I'd say "我在中国呆了两年。" “我在那家公司上班六年了” I am not a native speaker though.

[Mai Kairong]

Thanks. That's about how I would have said it, but I was afraid it was too simple and I was missing something.

[bootrom]

Glock's translation is extremely accrate. As a native speaker, I can't even give a more reasonable answer than that.

[jiangping]

I've always been taught that for phrases like this, you need one 了 after the verb, and then another 了 at the end of a sentence, to show that it's still "ongoing". The difference being:

1) 我學了兩年的中文 I studied two years of Chinese (But don't study it now)

2) 我學了兩年的中文了 I have studied two years of Chinese (and am still studying it)

Though, thinking about it in reflection, the studying of Chinese in the first example would have had to have happened relatively recently, otherwise 過 might be more appropriate. I guess if you're in China and it's pretty obvious that you're still in China when you say the sentence "我在中国呆了两年", then perhaps context allows you to drop the last 了.

Anyone have any idea about this?

[renzhe]

There is a good explanation here: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/3383-grammar-4-%e4%ba%86

If you use both the verb-了 and the sentence-了, this means that the process is still ongoing (I have been living in Beijing for....). If you only use the verb-了 here, then it would be present perfect tense (I have lived in Beijing for...).

[imron]

I've always been taught that for phrases like this, you need one 了 after the verb, and then another 了 at the end of a sentence, to show that it's still "ongoing"

I don't think either of the OP's statements are ongoing. Both indicate something that has happened previously, but is not currently the case, hence the reason why there is no need to add a second 了.

[jiangping]

Errr, I posted that this morning and mustn't have been very on the ball Maybe I need to focus more on English comprehension!