小偷一看到警车就跑走了。

The thief ran off as soon as he saw the police car.

Source: Tatoeba

Sentence Composition

1 小偷 xiǎotōu thief
2 一 yī
  1. one
  2. single
  3. a (article)
  4. as soon as
  5. entire; whole; all; throughout
  6. "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1)
  7. also pr. yāo for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit
3 看到 kàndào to see
4 警车 jǐngchē police car
5 就 jiù
  1. (after a suppositional clause) in that case; then
  2. (after a clause of action) as soon as; immediately after
  3. (same as 就是 jiùshì) merely; nothing else but; simply; just; precisely; exactly
  4. only; as little as
  5. as much as; as many as
  6. to approach; to move towards
  7. to undertake; to engage in
  8. (often followed by 着 zhe) taking advantage of
  9. (of food) to go with
  10. with regard to; concerning
  11. (pattern: 就 jiù ... 也 yě ...) even if ... still ...
  12. (pattern: 不 bù ... 就 jiù ...) if not ... then must be ...
6 跑走 pǎozǒu to escape; to flee; to run away
=7 了 le
  1. (completed action marker)
  2. (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now)
  3. (modal particle intensifying preceding clause)
=7 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 无 wú or 不 bù) completely (not); entirely (not); (not) in the least
  4. to understand clearly (variant of 了 liǎo)
=7 了 liǎo
  1. (of eyes) bright
  2. clear-sighted
  3. to understand clearly
=7 了 liào unofficial variant of 瞭 liào