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- "How many games did you buy?"
"How many games did you buy?"
Translation:你买了几个游戏？
23 Comments
In English “how many” is used for countable nouns like cars and “how much” is used for uncountable nouns like sand.
I missed the "le" the first time too. It is to indicate the action happened in the past. The key here is the "did" in the English question, as opposed to "are" or "will".
That's not exactly right...well it's really not right at all. 了 isn't used to indicate past tense. It's to indicate change. So get that past tense stuff outta your brain
There are multiple uses for 了 了 le AUXILIARY 1 [after a verb or an adjective to indicate the completion of an action, at a point in the past or before the beginning of another action, or an expected or presumed action]
把书读了两遍 bǎ shū dú le liǎng biàn have read the book twice
我下了班就去。 wǒ xià le bān jiù qù. I’ll go right after work.
水位低了两米。 Shuǐwèi dī le liǎng mǐ. The water level fell by two metres. 2 [at the end of a sentence, usu. after 了 for completed action, to indicate that sth. has taken place]
小说看了一半了。 Xiǎoshuō kàn le yībàn le. I have read half of the novel.
我等了半天了。 Wǒděng le bàntiān le. I’ve been waiting a long time. 3 [at the end of a sentence to indicate a change of situation or state, whether actual or envisaged]
他胖了。 Tā pàng le. He’s put on weight.
下雨了。 Xiàyǔ le. It’s raining.
东西贵了。 Dōngxi guì le. Things have gone up. or Things are expensive now.
树叶红了。 Shùyè hóng le. The leaves are turning red.
今天去不成了。 Jīntiān qù bù chéng le. We can’t go today. (Before the situation changed, we had thought we could go.)
你早来一天就见着他了。 Nǐ zǎo lái yī tiān jiù jiàn zhe tā le. If you’d come a day sooner you would have seen him.
我喝了五杯了, 不能再喝了。 Wǒ hē le wǔ bēi le, bùnéng zài hē le. I have drunk five glasses and can’t drink any more. 4 [after an adjective, with or without 太 “too”, to express an excessive degree, i.e. to indicate that sth. has gone to the extreme]
汤咸了。 Tāng xián le. The soup is too salty.
袖子长了。 Xiùzi cháng le. The sleeves are too long.
这种工作太累了。 Zhèzhǒng gōngzuò tài lèi le. This job is too fatiguing.
他现在太老了, 不能工作了。 Tā xiànzài tài lǎo le, bù néng gōngzuò le. He’s too old to work now. 5 [in commands or requests in response to a changed situation]
吃饭了！ Chīfàn le! Let’s eat now.
别说话了！ Bié shuōhuà le! Stop talking!
走了, 不能再等了！ Zǒu le, bùnéng zài děng le! Let’s go. We can’t wait any longer.
The games have already been purchased: the action is complete and therefore you use the completed action marker, 了, after the verb 買 ( 买 ).
How do you categorise this into the word order? Subject, time, place, model auxiliary verb, verb and object
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I forgot about 了 - but it was marked "correct" Can anybody explain me, why? the action is definitely complete
You did not provide the characters to write this so I used pinyin and my answer was correct.
LOL Google Translate's version was "have you bought a few games?" Isn't 多少 a more appropriate question word than 几个 (which, if you don't know the context would mean "several/some")
