Verbs indicating direction or incorporating direction markers followed by 了 le:
昨天来了两个朋友。
Zuó tiān lái le liǎng gè péng yǒu 。
Two friends came yesterday. (lit. Yesterday came two friends.)
家里走了三个客人。
Jiā lǐ zǒu le sān gè kè rén 。
Three visitors/guests left my house. (lit. House left three visitors/guests.)
空中飞来了一群鸟。
Kōng zhōng fēi lái le yī qún niǎo 。
A flock of birds came flying over. (lit. In the sky flew over a flock of birds.)
水面上游来了一只天鹅。
Shuǐ miàn shàng yóu lái le yī zhī tiān é 。
A swan came gliding over the water. (lit. On water came swimming a swan.)
上个星期搬走了两家人。
Shàng gè xīng qī bān zǒu le liǎng jiā rén 。
Two families moved away last week. (lit. Last week moved away two families.)
图书馆借走了一万册书。
Tú shū guǎn jiè zǒu le yī wàn cè shū 。
Ten thousand volumes have been borrowed from the library.
(lit. Library have been borrowed ten thousand volumes.)
树篱下钻出了一只松鼠来。
Shù lí xià zuàn chū le yī zhī sōng shǔ lái 。
A squirrel emerged from under the hedge. (lit. (From) under the hedge came/burrowed out a squirrel.)
广场上聚集了数千人。
Guǎng chǎng shàng jù jí le shù qiān rén 。
A few thousand people gathered at the square.
突然开来了一辆大坦克。
Tū rán kāi lái le yī liàng dà tǎn kè 。
Suddenly there came a big tank.
[1] Yip, P. C., Rimmington, D., Xiaoming, Z., & Henson, R. (2009). Basic Chinese: a grammar and workbook. Taylor & Francis.
