---
title: "one-off verb + (了) + duration + 了 (time since) in Chinese Grammar: It has been … since …, With Examples"
description: "one-off verb + (了) + duration + 了 (time since): it has been … since …. After a one-off event (去世, 毕业, 买), a length of time + 了 says how long ago it happened: 他去世五年了 “he died five years ago”. 2 real lines from stories, each word explained."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/le-duration-since"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

[Chinese grammar](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar)

# one-off verb + (了) + duration + 了 (time since)

It has been … since …

After a one-off event (去世, 毕业, 买), a length of time + 了 says how long ago it happened: 他去世五年了 “he died five years ago”.

## In stories

爷爷当了三十年警察，**退休十年了**。

[豆腐不见了 · The cat that didn’t come home](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/the-cat-that-didnt-come-home#library-word-10-15) HSK 3

爷爷已经**去世五年了**，我没法问他；

[照片上的秀兰 · An old photo and a family secret](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/an-old-photo-a-family-secret#library-word-295-300) HSK 4

[Read 豆腐不见了](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/the-cat-that-didnt-come-home#library-word-10-15)

## More patterns

- [verb (+ 了) + duration (for how long) for … (how long … lasts)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/duration)
- [verb + 了 + verb … briefly; … a little](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/v-le-v)
- [太 + adjective + 了 so …!](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/tai-le)
- [verb + 不了/得了 cannot …; can …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/v-bu-liao)
- [快(要)…了 about to …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/kuai-le)
- [为了…(而)… in order to …, …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/weile-er)

## What does one-off verb + (了) + duration + 了 (time since) mean in Chinese?

It has been … since …. After a one-off event (去世, 毕业, 买), a length of time + 了 says how long ago it happened: 他去世五年了 “he died five years ago”.

## How common is one-off verb + (了) + duration + 了 (time since)?

It comes up in 2 readings of the 392 stories and articles in our free Library.

## Does it correct my mistakes?

No. It shows which patterns a text uses and what each one does; it doesn’t mark errors. Paste a sentence you wrote to see whether it uses the pattern you meant.

## More free tools

- [Chinese dictionary](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-dictionary)
- [Measure words](https://mandarinthewild.com/measure-words)
- [How hard is this text?](https://mandarinthewild.com/text-level)
- [Free Chinese stories](https://mandarinthewild.com/library)

Patterns found by our own parser; lines from our free Library.