Breakdown of wǒ yǐjīng shēnqǐng le jiǎngxuéjīn.
Used after a verb. Marks that an action is completed.
Questions & Answers about wǒ yǐjīng shēnqǐng le jiǎngxuéjīn.
已经 and 了 do different jobs:
- 已经 = an adverb meaning already, it expresses expectation/contrast, like “earlier than expected” or “as you asked, it’s done now.”
- 了 (here) = an aspect marker showing the action of 申请 (to apply) is completed.
So:
- 我已经申请了奖学金。
- Literally: I already applied (completed the action of applying for) the scholarship.
- 已经 adds the “already” meaning.
- 了 marks that the applying is done.
You often see them together when you want to say something is already done:
- 我已经吃了饭。 – I’ve already eaten.
- 他已经走了。 – He’s already left.
They’re not redundant; each contributes a different piece of information.
了 does not directly mark “past tense” the way English does. It marks completion of an action. The time (just now, last week, last year) comes from context or extra words.
So 我已经申请了奖学金 can mean:
- “I’ve already applied for the scholarship (today / just now / last week)”
Just like English present perfect, it often focuses on the current result (the application is in), but Chinese doesn’t distinguish tenses the same way. Use time words if you need to be specific:
- 我昨天已经申请了奖学金。– I already applied for the scholarship yesterday.
- 我上个月申请了奖学金。– I applied for the scholarship last month.
Here, 了 is the verb-completion marker and it is attached to the verb:
- Verb: 申请
- Aspect marker: 了
- Object: 奖学金
Pattern: 主语 + 已经 + V + 了 + O
→ 我 已经 申请 了 奖学金。
This is a very common pattern:
- 我已经看了那本书。– I’ve already read that book.
- 他买了车。– He bought a car.
- 我们吃了晚饭。– We had dinner.
Putting 了 directly after the verb (and before the object) is the standard way to mark that the verb action is completed.
No. That word order is wrong in Mandarin.
- 了 must go with the verb, so it cannot be placed between the adverb 已经 and the verb 申请.
Correct positions:
- 我已经申请了奖学金。
- 我申请了奖学金。
- 我已经申请奖学金了。 (different structure; see next question)
But 我已经了申请奖学金 is ungrammatical.
What’s the difference between these sentences?
- 我已经申请了奖学金。
- 我已经申请奖学金了。
- 我申请了奖学金。
我已经申请了奖学金。
- Very natural, neutral.
- Emphasizes completed action with “already”.
- Good as an answer to “你申请奖学金了吗？” (Have you applied for the scholarship?)
我已经申请奖学金了。
- Also natural.
- Here 了 is more like sentence-final 了, emphasizing a change of situation / new state:
- Before: I hadn’t applied.
- Now: The situation has changed; I have already applied.
- Often used to update someone: “Just so you know, I’ve (now) applied for the scholarship.”
我申请了奖学金。
- No 已经, just simple completed action: “I applied for a scholarship.”
- More neutral; lacks the “already / earlier than expected / as you asked” flavor of 已经.
In everyday conversation, 1 and 2 are quite close in meaning; 2 often sounds a bit more like you’re informing someone of a new fact.
Yes, 我申请了奖学金 is completely natural.
Differences:
我申请了奖学金。
- Simply: “I applied for a scholarship.”
- States a fact about a completed action.
我已经申请了奖学金。
- “I’ve already applied for a scholarship.”
- Adds a sense of:
- It’s done earlier than you might think, or
- In response to your concern, it’s already taken care of.
You choose 已经 when you want to emphasize the “already” part (often answering a question, correcting an assumption, or contrasting with “not yet”).
You can see 我已经申请奖学金 in some contexts, but:
- In standard everyday Mandarin, to clearly mean “I have already applied (it’s done)”, you almost always use 了 somewhere:
- 我已经申请了奖学金。
- 我已经申请奖学金了。
Without 了, the sentence can sound:
- Slightly incomplete, or
- More like a general statement (e.g., describing what you do, not a specific completed event).
So if you want to say clearly and naturally, “I’ve already applied for the scholarship,” include 了.
申请 means “to apply for; to make a formal request for.” It’s not limited to scholarships. Common collocations include:
- 申请大学 – apply to a university
- 申请工作 – apply for a job
- 申请签证 – apply for a visa
- 申请贷款 – apply for a loan
- 申请假期 – apply for leave/vacation
It’s more formal than just “sign up”. For “sign up / register for a class or event,” you often see 报名 instead:
- 报名参加比赛 – sign up for a competition
When you count scholarships, you need a measure word:
Common options:
- 一个奖学金 – one scholarship (neutral, general)
- 两个奖学金 – two scholarships
- 一项奖学金 – one scholarship program/project
- 两项奖学金 – two scholarship programs
- 一笔奖学金 – one sum of scholarship money (focusing on the money)
- 两份奖学金 – two scholarships (focusing on them as “grants/awards” you receive)
In 我已经申请了奖学金, there’s no number, so no measure word is needed; it just means “I have applied for a scholarship / scholarships,” context decides whether it’s one or more.
Yes, if the context is clear, you can drop 我:
- 已经申请了奖学金。 – “(I) already applied for the scholarship.”
Chinese often omits subjects when it’s obvious who they are, especially in conversation or within a longer exchange. For example:
- A: 奖学金申请了吗？ – Have you applied for the scholarship?
- B: 已经申请了。 – (I) already applied.
In a standalone sentence, especially in writing, keeping 我 is more complete and clear: 我已经申请了奖学金。
我已经申请了奖学金。 is neutral and works in both spoken and written Chinese.
In an email to a teacher/professor, you’d usually put it in a more polite, complete sentence, for example:
- 老师您好，我已经申请了奖学金，想请您帮我看一下材料是否齐全。
– Hello Professor, I’ve already applied for the scholarship and would like to ask you to check whether my documents are complete.
The core clause 我已经申请了奖学金 itself is perfectly acceptable in a formal context.
To show future intention, remove the completion marker idea (了, 已经) and add words for intention or future:
- 我要申请奖学金。 – I’m going to apply for a scholarship.
- 我打算申请奖学金。 – I plan to apply for a scholarship.
- 我准备申请奖学金。 – I’m preparing / getting ready to apply for a scholarship.
- 我会申请奖学金。 – I will apply for a scholarship.
Compare:
- 我已经申请了奖学金。 – I’ve already applied (it’s done).
- 我要申请奖学金。 – I’m going to apply (not done yet).