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So， over the past hours, I‘ve been trying to figure out the proper usage of 延长。 I know that it refers to extending a period of time, but I'm trying to think about ways to use it (exact collocation) Could I say "延长到 （XX 时间） “ ex。 比如说， 我们在医院等者， 我可不可以跟我旁边的人说 ”医生刚刚跟我说， 我们要等的时间回延长到两个多小时“

If not, how else could it be used?

Cheers,

Stephen

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  • Browse some example sentences (with translations): jukuu.com/search.php?q=%E5%BB%B6%E9%95%BF The Pleco dictionary also has a few example phrases.
    – imrek
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 9:49
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    Your understanding is correct and your sentence is fine, but it's not the most natural thing to say. Since 等 is transitive verb which can be followed by the time to wait, in real life scenario people would simply say '我们要等两个多小时' instead of '我们要等的时间要延长到两个多小时', just like in English you would say "we'll have to wait for two hours" instead of "the duration of the time which we'll have to wait is extended to two hours".
    – NS.X.
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 9:57
  • So, I just ran into another usage "这门课程坚定了我的信心，给了我答案" Does 延长 mean extend two extra hours?
    – Stephen
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 9:59
  • @Stephen Where is 延长 in that sentence? Copy/paste error?
    – NS.X.
    Commented Dec 22, 2014 at 18:47
  • Definitely did, sorry I believe it was "我们的会议延长了两个小时“ Does 延长 mean extend two extra hours? Or does it mean that the meeting lasted two hours？
    – Stephen
    Commented Dec 23, 2014 at 11:01

2 Answers 2

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The usage 我们的会议延长了两个小时 is correct. When you want to say something was extended by [the extra time period], you use 延长(了)[time period]. If you want to say till what time something will be extended to, you use 延长到[time/date] or 延长至[time/date].

因运动员旧伤复发需要及时治疗，球赛将延长一个小时。

Due to the athlete's suffering from an old injury that requires timely treatment, the match will be extended by one hour.

Correction: boarding time is postponed rather than extended. Notice the Chinese word for postpone is 延后 not 延长.

飞机误点了，登机时间将延后至下午三点。

The plane is late: the boarding time will be postponed to 3pm.

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延长 is most used in written or formal situation. In oral Chinese, we always use 再 or 多 or 还 + some time to express a estimated time period would be extended.

Formal: 由于设备故障，本次航班的登机时间将延长半个小时。

Oral: 设备坏了，航空公司多给了半个小时的登机时间。

Formal: 议题太多，本次会议将延长至4点结束。

Oral: 老婆，会还没开完呢，还得再等一个小时才结束，到4点散会。

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