Learn Hardcore Chinese: tā hé shìyǒu zài túshūguǎn fùxí le sān gè xiǎoshí le, hái bù xiǎng huí jiā. - She and her roommate have been reviewing in the library for three hours and still don’t want to go home.

Word

她　和　室友　在　图书馆　复习　了　三　个　小时　了，　还　不　想　回　家。tā hé shìyǒu zài túshūguǎn fùxí le sān gè xiǎoshí le, hái bù xiǎng huí jiā.

Meaning

She and her roommate have been reviewing in the library for three hours and still don’t want to go home.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Breakdown of tā hé shìyǒu zài túshūguǎn fùxí le sān gè xiǎoshí le, hái bù xiǎng huí jiā.

Used when counting nouns or when specifying a specific instance of a noun.

There are also classifiers for people, for bound items such as books and magazines, for cups/glasses, etc.

The classifier 个 is a general one that can be used for any of these.

Why are there two 了 in this sentence?

The two 了 do different jobs:

The first 了 (after 复习) is the perfective 了. It marks that the action “review” has actually happened: 复习了 = “reviewed / have reviewed”.
The second 了 at the end of the clause (三个小时了) is the sentence-final 了, which often carries the meaning “already / up to now / a change of situation”.

Together, 复习了三个小时了 suggests:
“They have already spent three hours reviewing (up to now).”

So the pattern is: Verb + 了 + Duration + 了 → “have been doing X for [duration] (already / up to now).”

Can I remove one of the 了’s? How does the meaning change?