13. DURATIONAL

(–le了) + durational complement + (le了)

Stating how long the object has been being dealt with as a result of the action or how long one anticipates it will be being dealt with.

 

13.1   Tāmen bǎ zhèi ge wèntí yánjiū-le wǔ nián duō.  

他们把这个问题研究了五年多。 

They studied this problem for over five years.

 

13.2   Wǒ yǐjīng bǎ ròu kǎo-le wǔ fēnzhōng le. Zài kǎo jiù gāi kǎohú le. 

          我已经把肉烤了五分钟了，再烤就该煳了。

          I have grilled the meat for five minutes so far. If I continue, I will burn it.

 

13.3   Bǎ shuǐ rè wǔ fēnzhōng. 

把水热五分钟。

Heat the water for five minutes.

 

13.4   Wǒ bǎ miàntiáo zhǔ-le yì huǐr, ránhòu cái wàng lǐ fàng cài. 

我把面条煮了一会儿，然后才往里放菜。

I boiled the noodles for a little while before putting vegetables in it.

 

Note: Only verbs that imply certain forms of processing, such as shāo烧(to heat), kǎo烤(to bake/to roast), rè热(to heat). zhǔ煮(to boil), lěngquè 冷却(to cool off),  can take a durational complement in bǎ sentences. This is why the following example is ungrammatical.

 

13A.  Wǒ bǎ shū kàn-le sān ge xiǎoshí. (Ungrammatical)

          我把书看了三个小时。

          (I read the book for three hours.)

If the speaker intends to state how long the action kàn看‘reading’ lasted, the bǎ construction should not be used.

 

13B.   Wǒ kàn shū kàn-le sān gè xiǎoshí. (Grammatical) 

          我看书看了三个小时。

          I read the book for three hours.