# 不好意思。还让你等半天<了>



## yuechu

大家好！

Today I heard the following sentences on TV: "不好意思。还让你等半天". Personally, I would add a 了 at the end of the second sentence, but I'm not sure whether it changes the meaning or not. Is there a difference between “不好意思。还让你等半天" and "不好意思。还让你等半天了"? (are they both correct?)
Thanks!


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## ElGarcia

不好意思。还让你等半天
不好意思。让你等了半天
不好意思。还让你等半天了
不好意思。让你等半天了
不好意思。你等半天了吧？


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## SuperXW

ElGracia was right, but is there a reason? I'm trying to think about why.

Considering:
不好意思，让你久等了。
There seems no reason for 不好意思，让你等半天了 to be wrong. But we just don't say it.


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## fyl

It's weird that 还让你等半天 does not make sense to me. It sounds wrong to me. What does it mean to you guys? Is it 还得让你等半天(future) or 除了别的事情麻烦你之外还让你等了半天(past) ?
And 让你等半天了 is quite OK to me.


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## nightdragon

I and people around me all say  不好意思，让你等半天了/不好意思。还让你等半天了


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## ElGarcia

fyl said:


> It's weird that 还让你等半天 does not make sense to me. It sounds wrong to me. What does it mean to you guys? Is it 还得让你等半天(future) or 除了别的事情麻烦你之外还让你等了半天(past) ?



"还“ means "even" here, could be 有别的事情麻烦你 or simply a polite apology as 让你等半天 is unexpected. It doesn't imply a future wait unless you say 还得让你等半天. Consider 不好意思，还让你花钱（钱已经花了）or 不好意思，还麻烦到你头上（已经麻烦了）。”还“ implies that the speaker didn't plan to trouble the other person.



nightdragon said:


> I and people around me all say 不好意思，让你等半天了/不好意思。还让你等半天了



There might be a regional difference here. As for SuperXW's question, I was trying to work out a logic yesterday as well. I feel the reason we don't say 让你等半天了 is that 让你等了半天 makes much more sense. In other cases without a verb+complement structure, "了” is ok. Such as: 让你破费了。让你操心了。让你受委屈了。

It also has something to do with ”让“, which implies "sorry for* making* you wait (for so long)". It sounds perfectly fine to me if the person who has been waiting says, "我都等半天了！”


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## fyl

ElGarcia said:


> "还“ means "even" here, could be 有别的事情麻烦你 or simply a polite apology as 让你等半天 is unexpected. It doesn't imply a future wait unless you say 还得让你等半天. Consider 不好意思，还让你花钱（钱已经花了）or 不好意思，还麻烦到你头上（已经麻烦了）。”还“ implies that the speaker didn't plan to trouble the other person.


OK, I get it, thx.
I guess what confused me is where to stress. If it was 还让你等这么老半天, there would be no problem. But in 还让你等半天, it is weird to stress on 半天, and will get different meanings if stress on other words.


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## ElGarcia

fyl said:


> But in 还让你等半天, it is weird to stress on 半天, and will get different meanings if stress on other words.



I might stress 等 in that sentence


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## SuperXW

nightdragon said:


> I and people around me all say  不好意思，让你等半天了/不好意思。还让你等半天了


The last one is extremely weird to me.


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## yuechu

Thanks, everyone, for your replies!


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## bsbaby

baosheng said:


> s there a difference between “不好意思。还让你等半天" and "不好意思。还让你等半天了"? (are they both correct?)


I only see punctuation misuse, so a better syntax could be
不好意思*，*(还)让你等(了)半天！ or 不好意思*，*(还)让你等半天了！

1. There is no difference between 等了半天 and 等半天了, at least in this context.

2. 不好意思，让你等半天 is also perfectly correct:
    2.1 (30% chance) imply the person is still waiting and you are on the way.
    2.2 (10% chance) this is a prediction that the person will be waiting for sometime.  (这件货最近很紧张，不好意思，你等半天)
    2.3 It can also be a result as you finally meet the person (e.g. 不好意思啊，让你在这儿等半天).
    2.4 .... various other scenarios.

3.  ...让你等了半天 or 等半天了 is more commonly used because it *emphasizes* the happening or happened fact.

Next point:
(2) 等半天 vs 等*了*半天=等半天*了 *vs *等了半天了*
Therefore 等半天 sometimes equals to 等了半天 = 等半天了, but less stong than 等了半天了。
e.g. 你跑去哪里了? 我都*等了半天了*！

Baosheng, please dont be surprised that there are many forms.
Essentially this is because 半天 is a vague time and ranges from 10 min to even 10+ hours. (but some people would say 10+ hours = 一天, e.g. 我们等了一天了)
Back to this context
不好意思，让你等半天: the person waited for less than 30 mins.
不好意思，让你等了半天： the person waited for 10mins ~ 1hr.
不好意思，让你等半天了： the person waited for 10mins ~ 2hr.
不好意思，让你等了半天了！： the person waited for 10mins ~ half day.
However this usage is very very *personal*. (I am a patient person, I would not even call 10 mins as waiting).



ElGarcia said:


> ”还“ implies that the speaker didn't plan to trouble the other person


Nope, I would suggest that "还“ only shows courtesy of the speaker.
Sometimes it is used when the speaker caused other inconvinience in addition to the one being mentioned.


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## yuechu

Thanks, bsbaby! It looks like there are a lot of nuances depending on where the word "了" is placed!


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## BODYholic

baosheng said:


> 大家好！
> 
> Today I heard the following sentences on TV: "不好意思。还让你等半天". Personally, I would add a 了 at the end of the second sentence, but I'm not sure whether it changes the meaning or not. Is there a difference between “不好意思。还让你等半天" and "不好意思。还让你等半天了"? (are they both correct?)
> Thanks!



If I understand you correctly, you were under the impression that since the waiting is over. Hence, it is only rightful to add "了" to mark the change in state of "等". But on a closer look, "不好意思。还让你等半天" is a verb phrase where the head is 让, not 等. In this case, the proper way of changing the aspect of "等" is to insert "了" right after. And we get "不好意思。还让你等了半天".

真不好意思，叫你来，还让你等半天。
真不好意思，叫你来，还让你等了半天。
真不好意思，叫你来，还害你等了半天。

xxx
昨天你爽约，害我等了大半天。
昨天你爽约，害我等大半天了。


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## bsbaby

baosheng said:


> Thanks, bsbaby! It looks like there are a lot of nuances depending on where the word "了" is placed!


Yes you are correct.
And the nuanced meaning will depend on gestures and tone.


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## Peiyang

You must lost some important context.
By the way, 。 should be ，here.


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