"每天" and "了"

[Bird in a Forest]

我试着把这些句子从英语翻译成汉语。

1. Last week, I slept for ten hours every day.

我上个星期每天睡觉十个小时。

(我上个星期每天睡了十个小时觉。)

 

2. Last year, I went to China, ate noodles every day and bought a lot of stuff.

我去年去了中国，每天吃面条，买了很多东西。

（我去年去了中国，每天吃了面条，买了很多东西。）

 

3. I was a dragon for two years.

有两年我是一条龙。

但是我不太确定我的解释是不是对的。在1和2上，应该用“了”吗？

I asked a Chinese-speaking friend, and he says that, for 1 and 2, both versions are correct. However, I was under the impression that you normally don't use 了 with 每天 since it is a regular, habitual action. He says that it might be something to do with colloquialism or a dialectal variation (he's from Malaysia).

Additionally, I've consulted the Chinese Grammar wiki and other sources, but I'm still not sure.

Number 3 is unrelated, but even my Chinese-speaking friend had trouble translating it. "有两年我是一条龙" was the best attempt.

Thanks everyone in advance.

[Angelina]

我试着把这个句子从英语翻译成汉语。

 

Is this from a textbook? How did you start learning Chinese grammar by translating sentences from English into Chinese? Not the best way to learn grammar. It's probably not your fault though. 

[Bird in a Forest]

Is my sentence "我试着把这个句子从英语翻译成汉语" ungrammatical?

In any case, I haven't been learning by translating sentences. However, in this case, I need to get these sentences translated.

[Bird in a Forest]

I meant to say 这些 instead of 这个. I didn't take it from a book, though. Just made a careless mistake.

[Angelina]

Why do you need to get them translated? Is this an excercise from a textbook?

[Bird in a Forest]

Yes, essentially.

Also, it would be nice if me and my friend could get some other opinions about the sentences so that we can see what the correct ones are. We're both quite curious about it.

[anonymoose]

I was under the impression that you normally don't use 了 with 每天 since it is a regular, habitual action.

 

You're right, but one has to consider what is meant by "regular, habitual action". I guess there is a rigorous definition, but just off the top of my head, I would say it represents the normal situation, not restricted to a specific period of time.

 

In your sentence, since you are restricting the timeframe to "last week", the implication is that this period represents an exception to the norm, and thus is the very antithesis of a habitual action.*

 

So your sentence is not saying that sleeping ten hours daily is habitual, but rather that last week, you just happened to sleep ten hours every day of that week.

 

*I think it would be more correct to restate my second paragraph as: In your sentence, since you are restricting the timeframe to "last week", the sentence doesn't give any information as to what the norm is outside of this period, and thus cannot be considered to be a statement of a habitual action.

 

The reason I want to add the above is because one could conceivably have a sentence such as: 我平时每天都睡十个小时，上个星期每天也都睡了十个小时。

[Bird in a Forest]

Thanks anonymoose,

Does the same logic apply to sentence 2? Something is telling me that the version without 了 is more standard for that sentence since it was not "last week" but rather "last year", which means that it could more likely be defined as a habit.

As for sentence 1, does that mean I have to use 了, or are both versions correct nonetheless?

[Bird in a Forest]

And if both versions are correct, is it more a matter of interpretation?

[Bird in a Forest]

In case anyone is wondering, I got a response from a Chinese teacher.

She said the following are the most accurate sentences:
 

1. Last week, I slept for ten hours every day. 

 

我上个星期每天睡十个小时的觉。

 

2. Last year, I went to China, ate noodles every day and bought a lot of stuff.

我去年去了中国，每天吃面条，买很多东西。

 

3. I was a dragon for two years.

有两年我曾经是一条龙。
 

[Tiana]

I believe in what the Chinese teacher said about

"我上个星期每天睡十个小时的觉。"

but I also believe that nothing is wrong with:

"我上个星期每天睡了十个小时的觉。"

(If there is any difference at all between the two, the latter should be the more common.)

[Tiana]

Some time ago in the post above, I was trying to say there were always variations with the use of 了.

Even with such a liberal understanding, I'm still surprised to see 了 in the following sentence (the final sentence in an email I received this morning):

有空再连络了！

(Will write again when I have time)

 

As textbooks seem to have it, 了 is not used for an action in an indefinite future time, but here it is.

This seems to be a testament to the wide-ranging, almost undefinable function of 了.

I would be interested to hear what other members think about this.

[anonymoose]

I think it implies a change of state. The current state is 没空，不连络. But when the occasion of 有空 arises, then it will change to 再连络了.