# 我回了短信



## MarioAbsgard

Hello 

Well this is my first post, and I would like to be assisted with the next sentence.

我回了短信。(wo hui le duanxin)

Is "*回*" well used in that sentence?


谢谢！


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## Lamb67

很好的回答呀，It's a good reply indeed. Natural Chinese you nailed it.


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## MarioAbsgard

谢谢 Lamb67 ,

But suppose I want to translate this sentences to Mandarin

Q. I send you a text message yesterday.

A. Yes, I replied the text message.


So I tried to use "回" but I couldn´t. I appreciate your help.


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## Lamb67

replied's Re meaning again,repeat etc, can tell you that you need  HUI; another example is Return to home，回家。


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## MarioAbsgard

Ok, so to say "I answered your SMS" I can say "我回答了你的短信。" ?


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## Lamb67

It's ok but a natural Chinese label needs more context of coz . Don't worry about it now. Enjoy it.


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## MarioAbsgard

Thank you for you time and patience.


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## tarlou

MarioAbsgard said:


> Ok, so to say "I answered your SMS" I can say "我回答了你的短信。" ?



It's better to say 我回了你的短信了 or 我已经回复了你的短信.

回答 is acceptable but not good.


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## MarioAbsgard

Thank you Tarlou, that answer sounds easier for me. I have another question...

How could I say (in a simple way) "I sent you a message yesterday." ??


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## tarlou

MarioAbsgard said:


> How could I say (in a simple way) "I sent you a message yesterday." ??


I'd say 昨天我给你发了条短信.


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## Skatinginbc

回信, 我回了信, 我回了你的短信
回复信件/回复短信, 我回复了你的短信
我回了你的短信了  (If the first 了 is to indicate the perfective aspect of the verb 回, what is the function of the second 了?)


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## xiaolijie

Skatinginbc said:


> 我回了你的短信了  (If the first 了 is to indicate the perfective aspect of the verb 回, what is the function of the second 了?)


Broadly speaking, (a) 我回了你的短信了 is the same as (b) 我回你的短信了. The first 了 in (a) just adds a bit of emphasis to (b).

(What is more useful to know is the difference between (b) 我回你的短信了and (c) 我回了你的短信. The difference between these two is more substantial)


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## Skatinginbc

xiaolijie said:


> What is more useful to know is the difference between (b) 我回你的短信了and (c) 我回了你的短信. The difference between these two is more substantial


What's the difference if I may ask?  我回了你的短信 is something that would come out of my mouth, but 我回你的短信了 is something I've never said before.


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## xiaolijie

I think you'd as a native speaker be able to work out the difference for yourself. Here is a hint: the use of 了depends crucially on the context of use, so use  your imagination and think of the contexts where the 了 would comes after the verb vs the contexts where the 了 would come at the end of the sentence.


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## tarlou

Though I don't know the function of the second 了, I think the second one is a must in daily conversation. (Except in specific context that you need to be very polite and say it like a customer service: 我已经回了您的短信.) This is basically the same structure as 我吃饭了 vs 我吃了饭了. But this sentence is a bit awkward if the first 了 is omitted (since the object 你的短信 is too long).

The following sentences are possible in the OP's context:
我回了你的短信了.
我回了你的短信啦!
我回过你的短信了.
我回过你的短信了啦! The last one is used between northern people to indicate Cantonese accent (in performances), I don't know if it is actually used.


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## Ghabi

As Tarlou says, it's difficult to generalize the function of the utterance-ending 了, although I think we almost always use it when telling people something we think they need to know. It seems that we only omit it when it stands side-to-side with the perfective aspect-indicating 了. The omission becomes obvious when we compare Mandarin with Cantonese:

他死了=佢死咗喇 (two particles are used in Cantonese: 咗 zo2 for the perfective and 喇 laa3 for the let-me-tell-you purpose; by analogy one would expect *他死了了 in Mandarin, but it probably sounds too jarring so we only use one)
我吃*了*飯*了*=我食*咗*飯*喇* (two particles are used in both Mandarin and Cantonese)
For OP's sentence: 我回*了*你的短信*了*=我覆*咗*你個短信*喇* (assuming that the intended meaning is "I've replied your message")


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