Basic Grammar: all 87 lessons free
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已经……了 — Already Done, Already There
时间副词「已经」— 已经……了
已经 before the verb, 了 at the end: 我已经吃了, 他已经回家了, 苹果已经坏了. The frame for things that are finished — and for states you have already reached.
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Memory hook
已经 + V / Adj + 了 = already …
Done before you asked
Four from the deck, then the questions Chinese people ask all day. Listen for 已经 up front and 了 at the very end.
Tap any line to hear it
Already已经
No pressure — just making it stick.
你吃饭了吗？——我____吃了。
Nǐ chīfàn le ma? — Wǒ ____ Chī le.
Have you eaten? — I already have.
Someone asks for a colleague who left an hour ago. Which reply fits?
This apple has already gone bad.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
天____黑了，我们回家吧。
Tiān ____ Hēi le, wǒmen huíjiāba.
It's already dark — let's go home.
Your turn — say it
我已经吃了。
I've already eaten.
你困了吗？——已经很困____，我要睡觉了。
Nǐ kùn le ma? — Yǐjīng hěn kùn ____, wǒ yào shuìjiào le.
Sleepy? — Already very sleepy — I'm off to bed.
Answer each question with the finished state — pick the word for the gap.
Tap a word to fill the next gap; tap a filled sentence to clear it. Every word is used once.
Word bank
0/5Already, in pictures已经……的画面
No pressure — just making it stick.
Four states from the deck. Match the picture to the word, then say 已经……了 about it.
Tap a picture, then choose its word. Picked wrong? Tap that picture and choose again. Match all the cards to finish.
Your turn — say it
他已经回家了。
He's already gone home.
His face has already gone red.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
Your turn — say it
你吃饭了吗？——我已经吃了。
Have you eaten? — I already have.
This lesson's characters
已 itself, and two things that have already changed: the face that went red and the apple that went bad.
already; to stop
象drawn from life
Old 已 and 巳 were one character — a curled shape read by some as a fetus, by others as a snake — and 'already, finished' was a borrowed meaning that then took the character over. Mind the gap: 已 yǐ has a short stroke that stops halfway up, 己 jǐ (self) stops at the bottom, and 巳 sì closes completely. 已经 is 已 plus 经, 'passed through': already passed.
face
形meaning + sound
The 月 on the left is not the moon: it is 肉, flesh, squeezed into the same shape — every body part wears it, 脸, 脚, 腿, 肚子. 佥 on the right lends the sound. 他的脸已经红了 is what happens to a Chinese face after the second glass; 脸 is also 'face' in the social sense, and 没面子, losing face, is the thing nobody wants.
bad, broken, spoiled
形meaning + sound
The traditional 壞 was earth 土 with a heavy sound part: a wall of earth falling down — ruined. The simplified form kept the earth and wrote a plain 不 beside it: not-good, in one stroke of common sense. 这个苹果已经坏了 — the apple has gone bad; 手机坏了 — the phone is broken; 坏人 — a bad person.
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Everything worth taking away. Tap any line to hear it.
Words 生词
Characters 汉字
Before you go课后回顾
- Tonight, list what is already done — 我已经吃了，已经下班了，已经洗澡了 — and say it like a small victory. The 了 at the end is the finish line.
- When someone greets you with 吃饭了吗, do not look for food. Say 已经吃了 and ask it back — you have just said hello properly.
- 已经 is not only for actions: 天黑了, 脸红了, 苹果坏了 — states arrive too, and 已经 says they have arrived.