The kitchen pipe has been leaking since the night before. Xiaoyu has turned the water off and is waiting for the plumber.
Xiaoyu
师傅，厨房的水管漏水了。
Shīfu, chúfáng de shuǐ guǎn lòu shuǐ le.
Shifu, the kitchen pipe is leaking.
The plumber
漏多长时间了？
Lòu duō cháng shíjiān le ?
How long has it been leaking?
Xiaoyu
昨天晚上开始的，今天早上地上全是水。
Zuótiān wǎnshang kāishǐ de, jīntiān zǎoshang de shàng quán shì shuǐ.
It started last night. This morning there was water all over the floor.
The plumber
水先关上了吗？
Shuǐ xiān guān shàng le ma ?
Have you turned the water off?
Xiaoyu
关上了，所以现在没水用。
Guān shàng le, suǒyǐ xiànzài méi shuǐ yòng.
I have, so I have no water at all now.
The plumber
我看看。这个地方旧了，得换一个新的。
Wǒ kànkan. Zhè gè dìfang jiù le, de huàn yī gè xīn de.
Let me look. This part is worn out, it will have to be replaced.
Xiaoyu
要多少钱？
Yào duōshao qián ?
How much will it cost?
The plumber
材料加工钱，一共一百八十。
Cáiliào jiā gōng qián, yīgòng yībǎi bāshí.
Parts and labour, a hundred and eighty altogether.
Xiaoyu
今天能修好吗？我晚上还要做饭。
Jīntiān néng xiū hǎo ma ? Wǒ wǎnshang hái yào zuò fàn.
Can it be fixed today? I have to cook this evening.
The plumber
半个小时就好。你先问一下楼下，看看他们家有没有水。
Bàn gè xiǎoshí jiù hǎo. Nǐ xiān wèn yīxià lóuxià, kànkan tāmen jiā yǒu méiyǒu shuǐ.
Half an hour and it will be done. Go and ask downstairs first, see whether they have water.
Xiaoyu
我下去问一下。
Wǒ xiàqù wèn yīxià.
I will go down and ask.
漏水了 is not telling a past event: it signals that the situation has changed and was not like this before. This is the sentence-final 了, the one that says "here is what has happened": 下雨了, it has started raining; 没水了, there is no water left. It is not to be confused with the 了 attached to the verb, which marks completion.
The plumber is not asking whether you turned the tap, but whether the water is well and truly off: 关上了吗. The answer repeats the complement, 关上了, and not a bare 关了 which would leave the doubt standing. Answering a question about a result with the verb alone is answering beside the point.
Prices are said in full in writing, 一百八十, but speech cuts the end off as soon as no confusion is possible: 一百八 is heard everywhere for a hundred and eighty. The device works for every round ten, 两百五 for two hundred and fifty. In front of a tradesman it is safer to have the price repeated in full.
