<p>Well, for a native speaker, 她学汉语能学一年, if you put your emphasis on "能", it may imply that it takes too long(a year) to study Chinese. There may be slightly complaint, unsatisfactory, or even despise. So this sentence may be interpreted like this: it takes her a year to study Chinese, <strong>that's quite an unbelievable long time.</strong> Another example is: 他吃饭能吃三小时.</p>

<p>So it may be very different with the sentence 她学汉语要学一年, and it may be a little offensive.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-30T05:02:22.413Z
2016-01-30T05:02:22.413Z
Finn
<p>The key grammatical point in all 3 sentences is: the verb used in the first half of each example statement is REPEATED in the second half.
她学汉语要学一年
with the use of 要, we can infer that the above is a nonpast statement (ie not a past reference). Without any context, it is difficult to know what it means. Perhaps the speaker intended to say 她要学汉语的话，得学一年 (If she wants to learn Chinese, she will have to learn it for 1 year).
我看电影只看了十分钟
This statement has past reference because of the use of 了. If it is about a specific movie, it means "I watched this/that/the movie for only 10 minutes". If it is about the activity of watching movie, it means "I watched a movie for only 10 minutes".
她学汉语能学一年
This is not idiomatic to me. May be the following was intended: 她学汉语只能学一年。(She can only afford to spend 1 year learning Chinese)
Learners whose native language does not require this kind of verb repetition are likely to say for example 我看这部电影只有十分钟。
Thank you for reading my comments.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-13T22:24:41.733Z
2016-02-13T22:24:41.733Z
johnseah
<p>The 时量补语 rule is:</p>

<p>S + (V) + O + V + 时量补语</p>

<p>The first verb isn't that important, and it's most likely to disappear from the sentence. So the verb that takes the adverbs and modal verbs 只，没, 要 etc. should be placed after the second verb (the important one).</p>

<p>The 时量补语 expresses for <strong><em>how much time</em></strong> the action is done, which is different from the time adverb that expresses <strong><em>when</em></strong> the action happened. Compare:</p>

<p>我学汉语学了<em>一年</em>。 I studied Mandarin <strong><em>for one year</em></strong>. (duration)<br>
我<em>去年</em>学了汉语。 I studied Mandarin <strong><em>last year</em></strong>. (when)</p>

<p>I hope this helps. Cheers.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-27T12:49:23.857Z
2016-01-29T02:48:43.150Z
2016-01-29T02:48:43.150Z
Enrico Brasil
<p>I'm learning about Chinese complement of time-measurement (时量补语). It sounds very tough though, and I'm now stuck on some sentences like:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>她学汉语要学一年</p></li>
<li><p>我看电影只看了十分钟</p></li>
</ul>

<p>My textbook doesn't explain a rule applied to the sentences. If a sentence containing 时量补语 takes adverbs like 只 or an auxiliary verb like 要, do they have to be placed right before the last verb of the sentence? That's just my guess so can anyone tell me if I'm wrong or not?</p>

<p>I also would like to know the meanings of the following sentences:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>她学汉语要学一年 (I'm not sure if this means 'she is going to learn Chinese for a year' or something else) </p></li>
<li><p>我看电影只看了十分钟 (Does this sentence mean 'I just watched TV for ten minutes'?)</p></li>
<li><p>她学汉语能学一年 (I've changed the 要 to 能, but I'm not sure if this makes sense. If this is a valid sentence, what's the meaning?)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-23T23:01:09.190Z
these are examples of complements of duration verb with object with repetition of verb, even "实用现代汉语语法＂ does not have any examples with adverbs or auxiliary verbs, in any case why would examples 3,4,5 not (as indicated) simply mean the activity 要学,只看了,能学 has the indicated duration. In example 4 at least it would seem the adverb 只 can also be placed in front of the first 看. There is the other version with verb not repeated: 她要学一年汉语,我只看了十分钟电影,in which case the question does not arise, (it would seem following the textbook, auxiliary verbs are best put right before the second occurrence of the v)
user6065
<translation><grammar>
Questions about 时量补语
# Questions about 时量补语

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-01-23)

I'm learning about Chinese complement of time-measurement (时量补语). It sounds very tough though, and I'm now stuck on some sentences like:

* 她学汉语要学一年
* 我看电影只看了十分钟

My textbook doesn't explain a rule applied to the sentences. If a sentence containing 时量补语 takes adverbs like 只 or an auxiliary verb like 要, do they have to be placed right before the last verb of the sentence? That's just my guess so can anyone tell me if I'm wrong or not?

I also would like to know the meanings of the following sentences:

* 她学汉语要学一年 (I'm not sure if this means 'she is going to learn Chinese for a year' or something else)
* 我看电影只看了十分钟 (Does this sentence mean 'I just watched TV for ten minutes'?)
* 她学汉语能学一年 (I've changed the 要 to 能, but I'm not sure if this makes sense. If this is a valid sentence, what's the meaning?)

Thanks in advance.

**Tags:** translation, grammar

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: these are examples of complements of duration verb with object with repetition of verb, even "实用现代汉语语法＂ does not have any examples with adverbs or auxiliary verbs, in any case why would examples 3,4,5 not (as indicated) simply mean the activity 要学,只看了,能学 has the indicated duration. In example 4 at least it would seem the adverb 只 can also be placed in front of the first 看. There is the other version with verb not repeated: 她要学一年汉语,我只看了十分钟电影,in which case the question does not arise, (it would seem following the textbook, auxiliary verbs are best put right before the second occurrence of the v)  

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-01-30. Score: 2

Well, for a native speaker, 她学汉语能学一年, if you put your emphasis on "能", it may imply that it takes too long(a year) to study Chinese. There may be slightly complaint, unsatisfactory, or even despise. So this sentence may be interpreted like this: it takes her a year to study Chinese, **that's quite an unbelievable long time.** Another example is: 他吃饭能吃三小时.

So it may be very different with the sentence 她学汉语要学一年, and it may be a little offensive.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2016-02-13. Score: 1

The key grammatical point in all 3 sentences is: the verb used in the first half of each example statement is REPEATED in the second half.
她学汉语要学一年
with the use of 要, we can infer that the above is a nonpast statement (ie not a past reference). Without any context, it is difficult to know what it means. Perhaps the speaker intended to say 她要学汉语的话，得学一年 (If she wants to learn Chinese, she will have to learn it for 1 year).
我看电影只看了十分钟
This statement has past reference because of the use of 了. If it is about a specific movie, it means "I watched this/that/the movie for only 10 minutes". If it is about the activity of watching movie, it means "I watched a movie for only 10 minutes".
她学汉语能学一年
This is not idiomatic to me. May be the following was intended: 她学汉语只能学一年。(She can only afford to spend 1 year learning Chinese)
Learners whose native language does not require this kind of verb repetition are likely to say for example 我看这部电影只有十分钟。
Thank you for reading my comments.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2016-01-27. Score: 0

The 时量补语 rule is:

S + (V) + O + V + 时量补语

The first verb isn't that important, and it's most likely to disappear from the sentence. So the verb that takes the adverbs and modal verbs 只，没, 要 etc. should be placed after the second verb (the important one).

The 时量补语 expresses for ***how much time*** the action is done, which is different from the time adverb that expresses ***when*** the action happened. Compare:

我学汉语学了*一年*。 I studied Mandarin ***for one year***. (duration)  
我*去年*学了汉语。 I studied Mandarin ***last year***. (when)

I hope this helps. Cheers.


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