A Beninner Question: use of 了with age

[daveithink]

Hi all,

Started learning Mandarin a month ago, and am enjoying it immensely

We are learning how to talk about age in my class this week, and something came up in my textbook that I'm confused with...

The sentences given are: 你今年多大（了）？ 你今年几岁（了）？ 您今年多大年纪（了）？

I'm guessing the 了 here is optional, and I've been trying to figure out why it can be used here. I understand the different usage of the three sentence structures, as do I understand that 了 is used with reference to the past, so is it just a reference to the fact that the years have "already been lived" or am I off the mark? Any clarification on this would be greatly appreciated!

I apologise if this question came up already, tried searching through the forums for a reference to it but couldn't find any reference to it! I'm sure I'll get the hang of the site soon

谢谢，

Davey

[chaiknees]

The 了 indicates that some state has changed. For example this year you are one year older than last year, same with the university year.

[Jane_PA]

You are right, 了 is optional in all the sentences that you mentioned, not too much meaning here. It is different from the 了 in 我吃了，which 了 indicates a past tense.

Many Chinese sentences have 了 at the end, which is just a habit. For example, 我吃了饭了. The second 了 in this sentence has no specific meaning， may just indicating the end of a sentence because 我吃了饭 sounds like an unfinished sentence and the listner may expect you say something else like,我吃了饭，然后才打开电视。

[马盖云]

I agree with the "change of state" explanation. In Chinesepod lessons, John usually translates the final 了 as "now", ie. You this year are how old, now? (I'm preserving the Chinese word order)

[Hugh]

It's probably not good to think of 了 as marking past in any way. Grammatically, 了 isn't to do with past tense. One of its uses is as an aspect marker, though, and aspect and tense can overlap. Aspect is about the completeness of an action, but not when it took place. 了as an aspect marker could appear in sentences about the past, present or future, and often does not appear in sentences about the past.

[daveithink]

谢谢大家！

And of course, the title should read: A beginner Question!