Level 2 · Elementary
Already: 已经…了
已经 + Verb / Number + 了 · Traditional: 已經 + Verb / Number + 了
已经 (yǐjīng) means "already", and it teams up with a sentence-final 了: 他已经走了 "he's already left", 已经十点了 "it's already ten". The 了 confirms the new situation, so the pair travels together.
It works with amounts too: 他已经三十岁了 "he's already thirty". Dropping the 了 (他已经走) sounds unfinished — treat 已经…了 as a frame around the news.
Examples
他已经走了。
他已經走了。
tā yǐ jīng zǒu le
He has already left.
我已经吃饭了。
我已經吃飯了。
wǒ yǐ jīng chī fàn le
I've already eaten.
已经十点了，快睡觉吧。
已經十點了，快睡覺吧。
yǐ jīng shí diǎn le kuài shuì jiào ba
It's already ten — go to bed.
我们已经到了。
我們已經到了。
wǒ men yǐ jīng dào le
We've already arrived.
Common mistakes
✗ 他已经走。
✓ 他已经走了。
已经 wants 了 at the end — the pair frames the sentence.
Related grammar points
See it in a story
Read this pattern in context: Washing clothes — free graded stories with tap-to-reveal pinyin and translations.
