I haven't been to the Great Wall for a long time

[rydell]

大家好，

If we use 好久不见了 to say that we didn´t see some friend for long time, can I use 好久不去了长城 to say I didn´t go to the Great Wall for long time ago?

Thank you very much.

 

[aaronsun666]

好久不见 － fixed expression

很久没去长城了 - Good!

好久没去长城了 - OK.

好久不去长城了 - Bad! Not acceptable!

好久不去了长城 - Even worse! Incorrect!

 

[rydell]

But 没 doesn't use 了, does it?

 

[aaronsun666]

But 没 doesn't use 了, does it?

I don't understand.

I didn´t go to the Great Wall for long time ago?

I thought you meant, I haven't been to the Great Wall for quite a long time. There's a bit tense problem about it.

 

[rydell]

What I wanted to say is a phrase with 没 doesn´t use 了, as 没 indicates past, 了 is not necessary.

 

[SuperXW]

What I wanted to say is a phrase with 没 doesn´t use 了, as 没 indicates past, 了 is not necessary

I think this is where you get the impression:

He has not gone. (He is still staying there.)
他没走。
他没走了。
He has not gone to the Great Wall. (He is staying there, or has gone to somewhere else.)
他没去长城。
他没去长城了。

But for 好久没去长城了, it means "he hasn't been going there for a long time". The tense is different to the above two.
In the structure 好久没...了, 了 is necessary to finish the sentence.

 

[rydell]

OK, thank you very much for your explanation.

 

[Mamanunique]

You have to move 了 to the end of the sentence.
If you said 我|好久|不去|长城了，I would think you deliberately don't go there for a long time.
If you said 我|好久没|去|长城了，I would think you just haven't been there for a long time.
("|" is for better understanding.)
The 了 has nothing to do with tense here. It's a 语气词. The meaning of the sentence wouldn't change if you omitted it.

 

[aaronsun666]

You have to move 了 to the end of the sentence.
If you said 我|好久|不去|长城了，I would think you deliberately don't go there for a long time.
If you said 我|好久没|去|长城了，I would think you just haven't been there for a long time.
("|" is for better understanding.)
The 了 has nothing to do with tense here. It's a 语气词. The meaning of the sentence wouldn't change if you omitted it.

我也只能呵呵了。

 

[rydell]

Thanks Mamanunique for your explanation.

 

[Skatinginbc]

好久不見了 (好久不得相見)
好久沒見到你了 (好久没機會見到你)
臺北動物園的猩猩好久不見客了 (好久不願接見遊客)
臺北動物園的猩猩好久没見客了 (好久没機會見到遊客)