tā è le hěn jiǔ yǐhòu cái chī wǎnfàn, shuō zìjǐ néng chī xiàqu hěn duō dōngxi.

very

Breakdown of tā è le hěn jiǔ yǐhòu cái chī wǎnfàn, shuō zìjǐ néng chī xiàqu hěn duō dōngxi.

• 吃chī: to eat
• 他tā: he
• 了le: perfective particle

Questions & Answers about tā è le hěn jiǔ yǐhòu cái chī wǎnfàn, shuō zìjǐ néng chī xiàqu hěn duō dōngxi.

What does 了 mean in 饿了很久? Is it just past tense?

了 here is not a simple past tense marker. It marks a change of state: the moment when he became hungry.

• 他饿了 = He got/becomes hungry (the state of being hungry has started).
• 饿了很久 = After becoming hungry, that hungry state lasted a long time.

So 他饿了很久以后才吃晚饭 is like saying:
After he had been hungry for a long time, he finally ate dinner.

It focuses on:

1. the state start (with 了), and
2. how long that state lasted (很久),
   not simply “he was hungry (past tense).”

Why is the order 饿了很久以后 and not something like 很久饿了以后?

Chinese usually puts duration after the verb/adjective (or after 了), not before it.

• Pattern: [Subject] + [Verb/Adj] + 了 + [Duration] + 以后 + [Next action]

So:

• 他饿了很久以后才吃晚饭。 ✅
• 他很久饿了以后才吃晚饭。 ❌ (unnatural)

You can also say:

• 他饿了很久才吃晚饭。 (dropping 以后, also very natural)

But putting 很久 in front of 饿 like in English (“long hungry”) doesn’t work in Chinese.

Is 以后 necessary? What’s the difference between 饿了很久以后才吃晚饭 and 饿了很久才吃晚饭?