yīfu yǐjīng liànggān le.

The clothes are already dry.

Breakdown of yīfu yǐjīng liànggān le.

• 了le: change-of-state particle
• 已经yǐjīng: already
• 衣服yīfu: clothes

Questions & Answers about yīfu yǐjīng liànggān le.

What does 晾干 mean exactly?

晾干 is a verb-result compound:

• 晾 = to hang out / leave something to air-dry
• 干 = dry

So 晾干 means to become dry by being hung out or left to dry in the air.

In this sentence, it describes the result: the clothes are now dry after being hung out to dry.

A useful comparison:

• 晾衣服 = to hang clothes out to dry
• 衣服晾干了 = the clothes have dried from being hung out

Why are both 已经 and 了 used? Don’t they both mean something like already?

They are related, but they do different jobs.

• 已经 is an adverb meaning already
• 了 here marks a new situation / change of state

So in 衣服已经晾干了, the idea is:

• the drying is already completed
• and now the situation has changed: the clothes are dry now

Using both together is very common in Mandarin.

A rough feel of the sentence is:

• 衣服晾干了 = The clothes are dry now / have dried.
• 衣服已经晾干了 = The clothes are already dry.

So 已经 adds emphasis to the completion being earlier than expected or relevant now.

What kind of is this?