péngyou yǐjīng guòlái le.

The friend has already come over.

Breakdown of péngyou yǐjīng guòlái le.

• 朋友péngyou: friend
• 了le: change-of-state particle
• 已经yǐjīng: already

Questions & Answers about péngyou yǐjīng guòlái le.

Why are both 已经 and 了 used here? Don’t they both make the sentence past?

Not exactly. They do different jobs:

• 已经 means already
• 了 here marks a new situation / change of state, often with a sense of completion

So 朋友已经过来了 means something like The friend has already come over or The friend is here now already.

A useful pattern is:

已经 + verb phrase + 了

This is very common in Mandarin when you want to stress that something has happened by now.

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What does 过来 mean here?

过来 is a directional complement meaning come over or come here.

It is made of:

• 过 = across / over
• 来 = toward the speaker or toward the reference point

So 过来 describes movement toward this side.

In this sentence, it means the friend came over to where the speaker is, or to the place that is being treated as here in the conversation.

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Is the 过 in 过来 the same as the aspect marker 过 meaning have ever done?