<p>在这里的<strong>了</strong>作为语气助词，可以省略掉，而句子的意思不变，即 <code>还跑不跑了?</code> is equal to <code>还跑不跑?</code> (或<code>还跑吗?</code>)</p>
<p>其他<strong>了</strong>的用法可以看这个 <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/59367/36261">https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/59367/36261</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-12T13:47:06.157Z
2024-12-12T13:47:06.157Z
Tom
<p>A: 咱们跑步跑了多长时间了？<br />
B:一个小时吧。<br />
A: 还跑不跑了?<br />
B:再跑一会儿吧。</p>
<p>According to Chinese Grammar Wiki there is an 了1:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Also known as:, verb 了, completed action 了 and perfective aspect 了</p>
<p>他们到了<br />
They arrived / They have arrived</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Preterite</strong> is basically a word form to indicate events in the past.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Preterite: from Latin praeteritum (as in tempus praeteritum &quot;time
past&quot;), past participle of praeterire &quot;to go by, go past,&quot; from
praeter &quot;beyond, over; more than&quot; (see preter-) + itum, past
participle of ire &quot;to go&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Roughly 1600 years ago, if became fashionable in Western languages to use a 2 part Compound Perfect Preterite instead of the existing Simple Perfect Preterite: use <em>have</em> with words that do not imply movement: I have eaten, use <em>be</em> with words that imply motion: I am come. This is still the case in German: Ich habe gegessen, Ich bin gekommen. English has, historically recently, dispensed with <em>be</em> forms and now only uses <em>have</em>: I have eaten, I have come. Spanish for <em>I see</em> is <em>(yo) veo</em>. Spanish still preserves both types of Preterite: Preterite Simple (Pretérito perfecto simple) <em>vi</em>, literally <em>I seen</em> and Preterite Compound (Pretérito perfecto compuesto) : <em>I have seen</em>, <em>he visto</em></p>
<p>Chinese has no Preterite. You can translate 我到了 as: when I arrive, or, I arrived, or, I have arrived, always depending on the context.</p>
<p>Chinese Grammar Wiki says: 他们到了 = They have arrived</p>
<p>In that case, the translation of : 我到了给你打电话。（将来）should be:</p>
<p>&quot;I have arrived, give you a call.&quot; NOT &quot;I will call you when I get there.&quot;</p>
<p>Personally, I prefer the latter translation.</p>
<p>Chinese Grammar Wiki wants to extract itself from this unfortunate contradiction by saying: this is <em>perfective aspect 了</em>, which somehow is also the completed action 了， the了1.</p>
<p>Exactly what Chinese Grammar Wiki means by <em>perfective aspect 了</em> is not clear to me, although I understand both words in the phrase well.</p>
<p>Chinese Grammar Wiki:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;了 (le) can appear in sentences about the future as well as the past.
What's important is whether or not the action has been completed, no
matter what time frame we're talking about.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Certainly, we can <em>imagine</em> that something, which has not yet happened, something in the future, has happened: 我到了，when I arrive, but actually, things can only happen NOW, unless you wish to think that all events past, present and future are happening now, which is a strange way of looking at time.</p>
<p>Or, 我到了 does not indicate completion. If not, what is 了？</p>
<p>Maybe it is Chinese Grammar Wiki:了2:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Also known as: change-of-state 了, sentence 了 and modal 了.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>我饿了 = I hungry： I wasn't hungry. I am hungry now: change of state<br />
我到了 = I (have）arrived: I wasn't there, I am now there: change of state</p>
<p>You can perhaps see the confusion.</p>
<p>Western style punctuation is relatively new to Chinese. Previously, words like 了 were used to separate phrases, to separate ideas. 了 still separates phrases and ideas. The Western style punctuation is superfluous：</p>
<p>A: 咱们跑步跑（了）多长时间（了）<br />
A: us run steps run le much long time le<br />
B:一个小时（吧）<br />
B: one ge hour (ba)</p>
<p>还跑不跑（了） = 还继续跑 （吗）</p>
<p>A:还跑不跑 （了）（Don't need 了 here, you can equally not use 了 here)<br />
A: still run (or) not run (le)</p>
<p>B:再跑一会儿 (吧)<br />
B: Keep running a little while (ba)</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don't understand the purpose of 了</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Personally, I regard 了 as &quot;that&quot;. &quot;that&quot; is a name for something and anything. &quot;that&quot; is like a real, or, an imaginary finger, pointing at something:</p>
<p>He said that he had arrived<br />
他说他已经到了</p>
<p>In English, <em>that</em> points forward. In Chinese, <em>了</em> points back and emphasises what has been said, or forward to something. Chinese has no Preterite. The time of an event is given by the context, not by <em>了</em>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-12T17:51:05.630Z
2024-12-13T09:17:46.707Z
2024-12-13T09:17:46.707Z
Pedroski
<p>It is clearly not a &quot;completion&quot; of action. The only choice is an indication of &quot;a change of state&quot;.</p>
<p>The question consists of two parts, which can be considered as asking:</p>
<ul>
<li>還跑嗎(current state)? 還是不跑了(new state)?</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-12T08:02:13.027Z
right, it's of the 下雨了 type: now I realize it is raining / it has started to rain
John Frazer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-11T16:23:40.597Z
2024-12-11T16:42:43.497Z
2024-12-11T16:42:43.497Z
r13
<p>This is a dialogue from &quot;New Practical Chinese Reader Vol. II&quot;:</p>
<p>A:咱们跑步跑了多长时间了？(How long have we been running?)</p>
<p>B:一个小时吧。(About an hour)</p>
<p>A:还跑不跑<strong>了</strong>？</p>
<p>B:再跑一会儿吧。</p>
<p>In the third line, I don't understand the purpose of 了。
If it was 还跑不跑? I was totally clear about it. &quot;Shall we keep running or not?&quot;
But 了 doesn't make sense to me in this sentence.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-11T17:25:04.740Z
I would guess that the 了 echoes the previous answer and implies something like "Given that we have run for an hour, should we still run now?"
Vegawatcher
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-12T00:07:30.553Z
https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=3209   置於動詞後，表示動作的結束。
James
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-12-12T00:13:40.880Z
https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/59349/use-of-%e4%ba%86-with-the-verb-%e6%80%95
James
<verbs>
Purpose of 了 in 还跑不跑了?
# Purpose of 了 in 还跑不跑了?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-12-11)

This is a dialogue from "New Practical Chinese Reader Vol. II":

A:咱们跑步跑了多长时间了？(How long have we been running?)

B:一个小时吧。(About an hour)

A:还跑不跑**了**？

B:再跑一会儿吧。

In the third line, I don't understand the purpose of 了。
If it was 还跑不跑? I was totally clear about it. "Shall we keep running or not?"
But 了 doesn't make sense to me in this sentence.

**Tags:** verbs

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I would guess that the 了 echoes the previous answer and implies something like "Given that we have run for an hour, should we still run now?"  
> **username_2**: https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=3209   置於動詞後，表示動作的結束。  
> **username_2**: https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/59349/use-of-%e4%ba%86-with-the-verb-%e6%80%95  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2024-12-12. Score: 1

在这里的**了**作为语气助词，可以省略掉，而句子的意思不变，即 `还跑不跑了?` is equal to `还跑不跑?` (或`还跑吗?`)

其他**了**的用法可以看这个 <https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/59367/36261>


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2024-12-12. Score: 0

A: 咱们跑步跑了多长时间了？  
B:一个小时吧。  
A: 还跑不跑了?  
B:再跑一会儿吧。

According to Chinese Grammar Wiki there is an 了1:

> Also known as:, verb 了, completed action 了 and perfective aspect 了
>
> 他们到了  
> They arrived / They have arrived

**Preterite** is basically a word form to indicate events in the past.

> Preterite: from Latin praeteritum (as in tempus praeteritum "time
> past"), past participle of praeterire "to go by, go past," from
> praeter "beyond, over; more than" (see preter-) + itum, past
> participle of ire "to go"

Roughly 1600 years ago, if became fashionable in Western languages to use a 2 part Compound Perfect Preterite instead of the existing Simple Perfect Preterite: use *have* with words that do not imply movement: I have eaten, use *be* with words that imply motion: I am come. This is still the case in German: Ich habe gegessen, Ich bin gekommen. English has, historically recently, dispensed with *be* forms and now only uses *have*: I have eaten, I have come. Spanish for *I see* is *(yo) veo*. Spanish still preserves both types of Preterite: Preterite Simple (Pretérito perfecto simple) *vi*, literally *I seen* and Preterite Compound (Pretérito perfecto compuesto) : *I have seen*, *he visto*

Chinese has no Preterite. You can translate 我到了 as: when I arrive, or, I arrived, or, I have arrived, always depending on the context.

Chinese Grammar Wiki says: 他们到了 = They have arrived

In that case, the translation of : 我到了给你打电话。（将来）should be:

"I have arrived, give you a call." NOT "I will call you when I get there."

Personally, I prefer the latter translation.

Chinese Grammar Wiki wants to extract itself from this unfortunate contradiction by saying: this is *perfective aspect 了*, which somehow is also the completed action 了， the了1.

Exactly what Chinese Grammar Wiki means by *perfective aspect 了* is not clear to me, although I understand both words in the phrase well.

Chinese Grammar Wiki:

> "了 (le) can appear in sentences about the future as well as the past.
> What's important is whether or not the action has been completed, no
> matter what time frame we're talking about."

Certainly, we can *imagine* that something, which has not yet happened, something in the future, has happened: 我到了，when I arrive, but actually, things can only happen NOW, unless you wish to think that all events past, present and future are happening now, which is a strange way of looking at time.

Or, 我到了 does not indicate completion. If not, what is 了？

Maybe it is Chinese Grammar Wiki:了2:

> Also known as: change-of-state 了, sentence 了 and modal 了.

我饿了 = I hungry： I wasn't hungry. I am hungry now: change of state  
我到了 = I (have）arrived: I wasn't there, I am now there: change of state

You can perhaps see the confusion.

Western style punctuation is relatively new to Chinese. Previously, words like 了 were used to separate phrases, to separate ideas. 了 still separates phrases and ideas. The Western style punctuation is superfluous：

A: 咱们跑步跑（了）多长时间（了）  
A: us run steps run le much long time le  
B:一个小时（吧）  
B: one ge hour (ba)

还跑不跑（了） = 还继续跑 （吗）

A:还跑不跑 （了）（Don't need 了 here, you can equally not use 了 here)  
A: still run (or) not run (le)

B:再跑一会儿 (吧)  
B: Keep running a little while (ba)

> I don't understand the purpose of 了

Personally, I regard 了 as "that". "that" is a name for something and anything. "that" is like a real, or, an imaginary finger, pointing at something:

He said that he had arrived  
他说他已经到了

In English, *that* points forward. In Chinese, *了* points back and emphasises what has been said, or forward to something. Chinese has no Preterite. The time of an event is given by the context, not by *了*.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2024-12-11. Score: 0

It is clearly not a "completion" of action. The only choice is an indication of "a change of state".

The question consists of two parts, which can be considered as asking:

* 還跑嗎(current state)? 還是不跑了(new state)?

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: right, it's of the 下雨了 type: now I realize it is raining / it has started to rain  

---

