A. By being a quantified event. (The event is
bounded in terms of quantity or duration. The verb takes either a numeral and a
measure word or a complement of duration.)
1.1 Shàng gè yuè wǒ kàn-le sān běn shū.
上个月我看了三本书。
Last
month I read three books.
Note that
when the event is quantified in terms of duration, depending on whether the
verb takes an object, the sentence may take one of the
following three patterns.
1.2 Wǒ xiěcuò-le yí gè zì.
我写错了一个字。
I wrote a character
incorrectly.
Note
that when the verb takes a resultative complement and a quantified object, the
perfective aspect particle must be placed after the complement, not the verb.
verb + resultative complement + le了 +
quantified object
Verb without
an object taking a complement of duration:
verb-le了 + duration
1.3.1 Zuótiān wǒ shuì-le bā gè zhōngtóu.
昨天我睡了八个钟头。
Yesterday
I slept for eight hours.
Verb taking
an object and a complement of duration:
A. verb + object +
reduplicated verb-le + duration.
1.3.2 Zuótiān wǒ shuìjiào shuì-le bā gè zhōngtóu.
昨天我睡觉睡了八个钟头。
Yesterday
I slept for eight hours.
Note that shuìjiào睡觉 is a VO
compound (Verb shuì睡+Object jiào觉). In this
sentence, the first verb shuì睡 in the
verbal phrase shuìjiào睡觉 does not
function as the predicate verb. Instead, it takes the object jiào觉 to simply
name the activity meaning something like ‘as to sleeping’. The second shuì睡 is the main
verb. This is why the aspect particle le了is placed
after the second shuì睡.
Verb taking
an object and a complement of duration:
B. verb-le了 + duration + de的 + object
1.3.3 Zuótiān wǒ shuì-le bā gè zhōngtóu de jiào.
昨天我睡了八个钟头的觉。
Yesterday
I slept for eight hours.
Shuìjiào is a VO compound (Verb shuì睡 + Object jiào觉). Not all compounds are VO. Xuéxí学习 ‘to study’ and gōngzuò工作 ‘to work’
are VV compounds (Verb xué学 + Verb xí习, Verb gōng工 + Verb zuò作). VV
compounds are treated as verbs and thus follow the pattern of 1.2 above.