你在島上住了多久？

How long did you live on the island?

Source: Tatoeba

Sentence Composition

=1 你 nǐ you (informal, as opposed to courteous 您 nín)
=1 你 nǐ you (Note: In Taiwan, 妳 is used to address females, but in mainland China, it is not commonly used. Instead, 你 is used to address both males and females.)
2 在 zài
  1. to exist; to be alive
  2. (of sb or sth) to be (located) at
  3. (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress)
3 島 dǎo island

classifiers: 個, 座
=4 上 shǎng used in 上聲 shǎngshēng
=4 上 shàng
  1. (bound form) up; upper; above; previous
  2. first (of multiple parts)
  3. to climb; to get onto; to go up
  4. to attend (class or university)
  5. (directional complement) up
  6. (noun suffix) on; above
5 住 zhù
  1. to live
  2. to dwell
  3. to stay
  4. to reside
  5. to stop
  6. (suffix indicating firmness, steadiness, or coming to a halt)
=6 了 le
  1. (completed action marker)
  2. (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now)
  3. (modal particle intensifying preceding clause)
=6 了 liǎo
  1. to finish
  2. (used with 得 dé or 不 bù after a verb to express (im)possibility, as in 忘不了 wàngbuliǎo "cannot forget")
  3. (literary) (usually followed by a negative such as 無 wú or 不 bù) completely (not); entirely (not); (not) in the least
  4. to understand clearly (variant of 瞭 liǎo)
=6 了 liǎo
  1. (of eyes) bright
  2. clear-sighted
  3. to understand clearly
=6 了 liào unofficial variant of 瞭 liào
7 多久 duōjiǔ
  1. (of time) how long?
  2. (not) a long time