我吃了饭 or 我吃饭了? Where to place 了 in these cases? 我吃了饭 or 我吃饭了? When using 了 to express a finished action with "separable verbs" should I place it after the verb or after the object? The rule is to

Alberto

我吃了饭 or 我吃饭了? Where to place 了 in these cases? 我吃了饭 or 我吃饭了? When using 了 to express a finished action with "separable verbs" should I place it after the verb or after the object? The rule is to place it after the verb (but some say that it would sound a bit weird, like an incomplete sentence) but other say it's more common to place it after the object (but in this case it could also mean "I am going to eat") What should I do? What is the grammar logic behind this? Is it possible to use both? Does this only work with "separable verbs" or also with any kind of short direct objects? Thanks.

Sep 19, 2017 8:49 AM

Answers · 19

They are both correct. they would have slightly different meanings though. “我吃了饭”：means that you've finished your meal. You're done. it can be also used to emphaise what you have eaten, meal, fruit or something else? “我吃饭了”：means that you're finished with your meal. It can be also used when you're starting to eat your meal. For example, If you got a phonecall from your friend when you were going to eat your meal, you would say the following, 我吃饭了，稍后打给你。 I'm going to eat, I'll call you back later. 等我吃了饭再打给你。 I'll call you back later when I'm done with my meal.

September 19, 2017

Can we simply put it this way? 我吃了饭 is a reply to "What have you done?" and 我吃饭了 is a reply to "Have you had a meal?". In addition, 我吃饭了 can be used to mean "I'm going to have a meal now".

September 20, 2017

we only use 我吃饭了in China.

September 19, 2017

这是两句意思不同的话。如果你汉语还可以的话，你给我发信息，我给你用中文解释“了”的用法，那不是时态标志，一般的语法解释不清楚，只告诉你怎么用，但不告诉你为什么。你如果借助词典也看不懂上面的内容就算了。我给你举两个例子你就知道这两句话是有区别的了。你太慢了，我已经到家很久，我不仅吃了饭，还洗了澡。 a：你怎么才回来，我还在等回来一起吃饭呢。 b：你快吃吧。我已经在外面吃饭了。这根本就不是“了”放在动词还是object后面的问题。

September 19, 2017

Depends on contexts, 我吃饭了 = 我吃了饭 if you indicate that you've done your eating however, 我吃饭了 could mean that you are going to eat, the punctuation is more like “我，吃饭了！” Or, To avoid confusion, you should better say "我要吃饭了“ indicating you are going to eat.

September 23, 2017

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