當然很多了！(What is 了 doing here?)

[Demian]

In Lesson 37 of Assimil Chinese with Ease, a person asks his partner 王老師！講中國話的人多不多？To this, the partner replies 當然很多了。

As I understand 了 is used to show a change in state. The use of 了 is 聽說中國快到八億人口了。is clear to me. But I fail to comprehend what is 了 doing in 當然很多了！I believe there is nothing that changes in this statement.

[hackinger]

Hi,

(I am a struggling learner).

Did you check for instance http://resources.all...ar/Uses_of_"le" for other uses of le?

Ross, Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar, in chapter 34.1.1 gives an example for the use of le as a sentence final particle under the heading "New information for the addressee ":

他们订婚了 ta1men ding4 hun1 le They have become engaged!

I think this is somewhat similar to your sentence. I guess one would also say 当然他们订婚了when responding to a question and that response is appropriate for the situation.

BTW my Chinese With Ease edition uses simplified characters. Is there a traditional version as well?

Cheers

hackinger

[PengHaoShi]

This is another very typical use of the 了 particle, but it's not a sentence end particle here, which would show a change of state, here it is the typical form with an adjective to express an intensified meaning. This is comparable with e.g. 太好了, 累死了 , ... It just happens to stand at the end of the sentence.

[陳德聰]

I'm going to just call this the "emphatic 了" and leave it at that. When you've told your parents something like ten times already that you will clean your room, you say 好了, and 不用再闹了 not because all of a sudden there has been a change of state to being okay or being the state that they no longer need to nag, but because of the emphatic properties of 了.

[Christina Liu]

this 了is a part of 当然了, 当然了is a regular collection, compare with 当然, 当然了's tone is stronger, like "of course!!", so "当然.......了" means "of course that .....!!"

Hope I helped

[skylee]

As usual I don't know the answer to OP's question. But in one of the threads linked to a sticky of the Grammar section, xiaocai mentioned 語氣助詞. I suppose this is the explanation. http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/3383-grammar-4-%e4%ba%86/#comment-27917 (see #4) You can actually remove the 了 from 當然很多了 and it will still be ok.

I am not sure if the explanations on this page will help (or are relevant) -> http://eastasiastudent.net/china/putonghua/four-kinds-le/

And when I look at what I have written as my status "痛了一整天了", I don't know how to explain the two 了's. It is just the way we use the language. Learners might know more on how to explain such things.

[Ruben von Zwack]

Is this emphatic use of "le" similar or related to the much-beloved Singaporean "la"?

[陳德聰]

Ruben the Singaporean "la" has Chinese origins, almost definitely not Mandarin Chinese origins, but that is likely why they are similar.