Mandarin Grammar

Use of " 离 lí "

Learning Objectives


  • Learn to use " 离 lí " to indicate the distance from a place, a point in time or a purpose.

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Learning Video

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Additional Notes

In English, the word " 离 lí " means "to be away from".  It is used to indicate the distance from a place, a point in time or a purpose.


The grammar structure of using " 离 lí " is:

A [ 离 lí ] B + Adjective or Numerical phrase


The structure is used to indicate the distance between A and B and their distance is specified with Adjective or Numerical phrase.


First, let us see how to use the pattern of

A [ 离 lí ] B + Adjective


For an example.


我的家离学校很近。

wǒ jiā lí xué xiào hěn jìn。

My home is very close to the school.


In this example,

  • A is my home (我家 wǒ jiā)

  • B is the school (学校 xué xiào)

  • "离 lí " indicates the distance between A and B

  • The adjective is very close (很近 hěn jìn)


Next, let us see how to use the pattern of

A [离 lí ] B + Numerical phrase


For an example,

我的家离学校1公里。

wǒ jiā lí xué xiào yì gōng lǐ 。

My home is 1 kilometer from the school.


In this example,

  • A is my home  (我家 wǒ jiā)

  • B is the school (学校 xué xiào)

  • " 离 lí " indicates the distance between A and B

  • The numerical phrase is 1 kilometer (1公里 yì gōng lǐ)


Having learned the grammatical patterns of using " 离 lí ", we continue to provide some examples on using it to indicate the distance from a place, a point in time or a purpose.


First, we use " 离 lí " to indicate the distance between two places.


For an example,

酒店离机场很远。

jiǔ diàn lí jī chǎng hěn yuǎn。

The hotel is far from the airport.


In this example,

  • The first place is the hotel (酒店 jiǔ diàn)

  • The second place is the airport (机场 jī chǎng)

  • Their distance is far away (很远 hěn yuǎn)


Second, we use " 离 lí " to indicate the distance between two points of time.


For an example,

第一班车离第二班车不到五分钟。

dì yī bān chē lí dì èr bān chē bú dào wǔ fēn zhōng 。

The first bus is less than five minutes from the second bus.


In this example,

  • The first point of time is the first bus (第一班车 dì yī bān chē)

  • The second point of time is the second bus (第二班车 dì yī bān chē)

  • Their time distance is less than 5 minutes (不到五分钟 bú dào wǔ fēn zhōng)


Lastly, we use " 离 lí " to indicate the distance from a purpose.


For an example,

现在离终点还有六十米。

xiàn zài lí zhōng diǎn hái yǒu liù shí mǐ 。

There are still sixty meters from the end.


In this example, it shows the runners will have 60 meters before reaching the goal.