了
leliǎo HSK1

finish

了 le frequency
completed action particle
aspect marker used after a verb to indicate the completion of an action

昨天的作业我已经做完了。

zuó​tiān de zuò​yè wǒ yǐ​jīng zuò​wán le.

I have finished yesterday's homework.

change of state modal particle
sentence-final particle indicating a new situation or a change in circumstances

天已经黑了，我们回家吧。

tiān yǐ​jīng hēi le, wǒ​men huí​jiā ba.

It's already dark; let's go home.

intensification modal particle
modal particle used to intensify the preceding clause, often in exclamatory structures

这个主意真是太妙了！

zhè gè zhǔ​yi zhēn shì tài miào le!

This idea is really brilliant!

了 liǎo
potential verb
used after a verb with 得 de or 不 bù to express possibility or ability

这个任务我完成不了。

zhè​ge rèn​wu wǒ wán​chéng bù liǎo.

I can't complete this task.

finish modal particle
to finish, conclude, or settle

我们的账还没了呢。

wǒ​men de zhàng hái méi liǎo ne.

Our accounts haven't been settled yet.

entirely verb
(literary) used with a negative to mean completely, entirely, or not in the least

他对此事了无兴趣。

tā duì cǐ shì liǎo wú xìng​qù.

He has absolutely no interest in this matter.

understand particle
to understand clearly or comprehend

听了你的解释，我才明了真相。

tīng liǎo nǐ de jiě​shì, wǒ cái míng​liǎo zhēn​xiàng.

Only after hearing your explanation did I understand the truth.

了 (瞭) liǎo
bright verb
(of eyes) bright or clear-sighted

他的双目明了，透着一股聪慧。

tā de shuāng​mù míng liǎo, tòu zhe yī gǔ cōng​huì.

His eyes were clear and bright, radiating intelligence.

understand particle
to understand clearly or comprehend

他的说明非常简洁，让人听后对整个计划一目了然。

tā de shuō​míng fēi​cháng jiǎn​jié, ràng rén tīng hòu duì zhěng​gè jì​huà yī​mù​liǎo​rán.

His explanation was very concise, making the entire plan clear at a glance.

Frequency
Character
Written text
5th most common 10999.9 per million
Movie subtitles
5th most common 21220.5 per million appears in 100% of films
Word
Movie subtitles
28210.5 per million appears in 100% of films
Written text
13582.5 per million

Details
HSK 2.0
Level 1
HSK 3.0
Level 1
Traditional
瞭
Strokes
2
Unicode
U+4E86

Sources
Definitions
CC-CEDICT
Frequency data
MTSU Chinese text computingSUBTLEX-CHBCC Corpus (BLCU)