<p>The other answers give some good examples, so I'll try to provide an answer from a grammatical perspective.</p>

<p>完 can be used as a resultative complement meaning "to finish doing something". You put it after a verb to mean that you finished doing that verb. 「吃完」 means "finish eating". </p>

<p>了 has <em>many</em> different uses, but the one that I first learned was as a past tense marker. 「吃了」 means "ate".</p>

<p>Now, to talk about something that you finished doing in the past, you combine the two. 「我吃完了」 means, "I finished eating."</p>

<p>There's a ton more detail to learn with these two words. I suggest you look at the Chinese grammar wiki <a href="http://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Complements" rel="nofollow">complements page</a>, the <a href="http://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_completion_with_%22le%22" rel="nofollow">completion with 了 page</a>, and maybe the <a href="http://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Uses_of_%22le%22" rel="nofollow">many uses of 了 page</a>. I expect most beginner or early intermediate textbooks will cover these topics as well.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-02-07T06:34:27.353Z
2012-02-07T06:34:27.353Z
Don Kirkby
<p>I would translate 完 as "complete," and 了 as "done." 完了 would then be a very emphatic "completely done."</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-02-06T16:10:16.653Z
2012-02-06T16:10:16.653Z
Tom Au
<p>All answers miss an important point: the two words are total two different stuff at all! 完 is a verb while 了 is an auxiliary word.</p>

<p>完 in case of this question is used as a secondary part of a compound verb, it denotes the result of the dominated verb. Such kind of compound verbs are called <em>Resultative Compound Verbs</em>. In most situations, say 写完了报告, 了 is used with the whole compound verb instead of just 完. They are not connected as they seem!</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-20T14:49:45.217Z
2014-01-20T14:49:45.217Z
Yaboot
<p>so instead of saying, 没看完了 ... one would say 沒有看完 or沒有吃完 for eating...</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-19T20:33:31.303Z
2014-01-19T20:33:31.303Z
DJWriter
<p>没 and 完 can be used together to indicate an action that has yet to be completed in this pattern  没 + V + 完 for example:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>没看完 <em>or</em> 没吃完</p>
</blockquote>

<p>To mean I haven't finished watching/reading it <em>or</em> I haven't finished eating (it) </p>

<p>You can also combine the two in this case it would be:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>没看完了 <em>or</em> 没吃完了</p>
</blockquote>

<p>To mean the same as above.</p>

<p>However the following:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>没看了 <em>or</em> 没吃了</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This means I haven't seen/read (it) <em>or</em> I haven't eaten (it)</p>

<p>e.g.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>这本书我还没看了 <em>or</em> 他的冰淇淋还么吃了</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I (still) haven't read this book <em>or</em> He/she hasn't eaten their ice-cream.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-27T05:32:35.990Z
This is not what the OP is asking, I think. All the "了" should be changed into "呢" in your examples. "了" is not used in this way. One can say "看了" "看完了", but never "没看了" "没看完了". And there is a typo in your last example "么吃" -> "没吃".
fefe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-03-19T05:06:13.717Z
I agree with fefe. 没看完了, 没吃完了, 没看了, or 没吃了 are not correct. Please consider editing your answer.
gonnastop
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-27T02:55:31.673Z
2011-12-27T02:55:31.673Z
going
<p>You can use 完 and 了 together or separately. </p>

<ul>
<li>了 is usually used to indicate the completion of an action. E.g. 你买了好多东西 (You purchased a lot of stuff). See the question "<a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16/tense-and-use-of-%e4%ba%86/43">Tense and use of 了</a>" to learn more.</li>
<li>完 is used to indicate the action of completing/finishing something. E.g. "說話沒完的人" (a motormouth, someone who talks to no end). Usually it's verb + 完.</li>
</ul>

<p>完了 can have 3 different meanings/uses. </p>

<ol>
<li>Verb + 完了 can indicate that the (verb) action has come to an end. </li>
<li>Noun + 完了 indicate the feeling of despair or the end of something . E.g., 哎呀，我完了！ (On no, I'm finished/done for!) or 那個車完了(That car is finished/done for!). </li>
<li>完了 by itself (usually at the beginning of a sentence) is usually an exclamation of despair. E.g., 完了, 车没油了！回不了家了！ (We're/I'm done [for], the car's out of gas. We/I can't go [back] home [now]).</li>
</ol>

<p>没完 can be used to describe things left undone, or something never-ending/eternal. E.g., 活儿还没完 (Work is not done/finished yet) or "說話沒完的人" (a motormouth, someone who talks to no end).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-26T17:28:47.243Z
完了 at the beginning of a sentence nearly always is an exclamation of despair. "完了, 敵人被打敗了！" sounds weird, it sounds like that the speaker don't want the enemy to be defeated.
fefe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-26T17:35:36.953Z
"没完" does not have the meaning of never-ending. At least I cannot think of a situation it is used in this way. Another phrase means never-ending is "没完没了"
fefe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-26T18:35:30.617Z
@fefe I guess I was thinking more along the lines of "說話沒完的人" (a motormouth, someone who talks to no end). As for "完了" I guess I was thinking about more in the context of exclamation or statement such as "完了, 完了, 彻底完了" (It's done/finished, it's done/finished, it's completely done/finished).
Krazer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-27T01:50:19.343Z
"完了, 完了, 彻底完了" is an exclamation which implies there is no way to recover from the current (bad) situation. It can have the translation you give, only in certain contexts. "說話沒完的人" is a good example for "没完" (never-ending) , but "一個没完的梦" is not.
fefe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-27T02:32:08.697Z
@fefe Fair enough. I'll make the changes.
Krazer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-26T17:13:29.280Z
2011-12-27T02:35:26.337Z
2017-04-13T12:48:06.457Z
Krazer
<p>If I understood correctly, both 完 and 了 can be used to indicate a completed action, so what is the difference in use? How do we properly use 完 in a sentence? Which contexts would be valid?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-26T15:52:20.520Z
Sometimes we use both: 写完了报告 (finished the report)
fefe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-26T16:01:32.907Z
@fefe: Oh my..I'm up for a treat then! >_<
dr Hannibal Lecter
<grammar><usage><sentence-structure><difference>
What is the difference in use between 完 and 了?
# What is the difference in use between 完 and 了?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-12-26)

If I understood correctly, both 完 and 了 can be used to indicate a completed action, so what is the difference in use? How do we properly use 完 in a sentence? Which contexts would be valid?

**Tags:** grammar, usage, sentence-structure, difference

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Sometimes we use both: 写完了报告 (finished the report)  
> **username_0**: @username_1: Oh my..I'm up for a treat then! >_<  

---

## 6 answers

### Answer by username_8 on 2011-12-26. Score: 10 | Accepted answer

You can use 完 and 了 together or separately.

* 了 is usually used to indicate the completion of an action. E.g. 你买了好多东西 (You purchased a lot of stuff). See the question "[Tense and use of 了](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/16/tense-and-use-of-%e4%ba%86/43)" to learn more.
* 完 is used to indicate the action of completing/finishing something. E.g. "說話沒完的人" (a motormouth, someone who talks to no end). Usually it's verb + 完.

完了 can have 3 different meanings/uses.

1. Verb + 完了 can indicate that the (verb) action has come to an end.
2. Noun + 完了 indicate the feeling of despair or the end of something . E.g., 哎呀，我完了！ (On no, I'm finished/done for!) or 那個車完了(That car is finished/done for!).
3. 完了 by itself (usually at the beginning of a sentence) is usually an exclamation of despair. E.g., 完了, 车没油了！回不了家了！ (We're/I'm done [for], the car's out of gas. We/I can't go [back] home [now]).

没完 can be used to describe things left undone, or something never-ending/eternal. E.g., 活儿还没完 (Work is not done/finished yet) or "說話沒完的人" (a motormouth, someone who talks to no end).

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 完了 at the beginning of a sentence nearly always is an exclamation of despair. "完了, 敵人被打敗了！" sounds weird, it sounds like that the speaker don't want the enemy to be defeated.  
> **username_1**: "没完" does not have the meaning of never-ending. At least I cannot think of a situation it is used in this way. Another phrase means never-ending is "没完没了"  
> **username_8**: @username_1 I guess I was thinking more along the lines of "說話沒完的人" (a motormouth, someone who talks to no end). As for "完了" I guess I was thinking about more in the context of exclamation or statement such as "完了, 完了, 彻底完了" (It's done/finished, it's done/finished, it's completely done/finished).  
> **username_1**: "完了, 完了, 彻底完了" is an exclamation which implies there is no way to recover from the current (bad) situation. It can have the translation you give, only in certain contexts. "說話沒完的人" is a good example for "没完" (never-ending) , but "一個没完的梦" is not.  
> **username_8**: @username_1 Fair enough. I'll make the changes.  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2012-02-07. Score: 3

The other answers give some good examples, so I'll try to provide an answer from a grammatical perspective.

完 can be used as a resultative complement meaning "to finish doing something". You put it after a verb to mean that you finished doing that verb. 「吃完」 means "finish eating".

了 has *many* different uses, but the one that I first learned was as a past tense marker. 「吃了」 means "ate".

Now, to talk about something that you finished doing in the past, you combine the two. 「我吃完了」 means, "I finished eating."

There's a ton more detail to learn with these two words. I suggest you look at the Chinese grammar wiki [complements page](http://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Complements), the [completion with 了 page](http://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_completion_with_%22le%22), and maybe the [many uses of 了 page](http://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Uses_of_%22le%22). I expect most beginner or early intermediate textbooks will cover these topics as well.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2012-02-06. Score: 1

I would translate 完 as "complete," and 了 as "done." 完了 would then be a very emphatic "completely done."


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2014-01-20. Score: 1

All answers miss an important point: the two words are total two different stuff at all! 完 is a verb while 了 is an auxiliary word.

完 in case of this question is used as a secondary part of a compound verb, it denotes the result of the dominated verb. Such kind of compound verbs are called *Resultative Compound Verbs*. In most situations, say 写完了报告, 了 is used with the whole compound verb instead of just 完. They are not connected as they seem!


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2014-01-19. Score: 0

so instead of saying, 没看完了 ... one would say 沒有看完 or沒有吃完 for eating...


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### Answer by username_6 on 2011-12-27. Score: -1

没 and 完 can be used together to indicate an action that has yet to be completed in this pattern 没 + V + 完 for example:

> 没看完 *or* 没吃完

To mean I haven't finished watching/reading it *or* I haven't finished eating (it)

You can also combine the two in this case it would be:

> 没看完了 *or* 没吃完了

To mean the same as above.

However the following:

> 没看了 *or* 没吃了

This means I haven't seen/read (it) *or* I haven't eaten (it)

e.g.

> 这本书我还没看了 *or* 他的冰淇淋还么吃了

I (still) haven't read this book *or* He/she hasn't eaten their ice-cream.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This is not what the OP is asking, I think. All the "了" should be changed into "呢" in your examples. "了" is not used in this way. One can say "看了" "看完了", but never "没看了" "没看完了". And there is a typo in your last example "么吃" -> "没吃".  
> **username_7**: I agree with username_1. 没看完了, 没吃完了, 没看了, or 没吃了 are not correct. Please consider editing your answer.  

---

