Chinese complements: result, direction and potential
A complement is a second word after the verb that says how the action turned out: 看完 (finish reading), 听懂 (understand what you hear), 找到 (find).
English often uses one verb or a phrasal verb where Chinese uses verb + complement, so they're one of the biggest steps between A2 and B1.
The essentials
- Result: verb + result: 看完, 听懂, 找到, 做好.
- Direction: 来 is towards the speaker, 去 away: 请进来, 他出去了, 他回家去了.
- Potential: 得 or 不 in the middle: 听得懂 (can understand), 做不完 (can't finish).
- Extended meanings: 哭起来 (start crying), 听起来 (sound), 说下去 (go on), 想出来 (work out).
Every lesson on this topic
Each lesson has a full explanation, examples in characters and pinyin you can listen to, and exercises with answers.
A2 (the A2 course)
- Result complements: 看完, 听懂, 找到: A second word after the verb says what the action achieved: finished, understood, found.
- Direction complements: 进来, 出去, 回来: 来 = towards the speaker, 去 = away: 请进来, 他出去了, 他回家去了.
- Can or can't manage it: 听得懂, 看不见: 得 or 不 inside a verb + result: 听得懂 (can understand), 做不完 (can't finish), 买不到.
- 得: how well, how fast: 他说得很好, 你跑得太快了, 他说中文说得很好: describing how someone does something.
B1 (the B1 course)
- Complements beyond direction: 起来, 下去, 出来, 下来: 哭起来 (start), 听起来 (sound), 说下去 (keep on), 想出来 (work out), 写下来 (note down).
In the app, these lessons are taught one idea at a time with audio, practised with questions you can answer in characters or pinyin, and brought back for review.
Other topics
- 了 (le) in Chinese, explained
- 的, 地 and 得: the three de
- Chinese measure words
- The 把 (bǎ) sentence, explained
- 被 (bèi) and the passive in Chinese
- 是…的 (shì…de): when, where and how
- Comparisons with 比 (bǐ)
- 过 (guò) and 着 (zhe): experience and ongoing states
- Questions in Chinese: 吗, question words and particles
- 不 (bù) or 没 (méi): negation in Chinese
- Chinese conjunctions: because, although, if
- Chengyu: Chinese four-character idioms
- Chinese numbers, dates and time
- Chinese tones and pinyin