Difference between revisions of "Complement"

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<td rowspan="8" style="font-size:120%">[[Verbs|Verb]]</td><td rowspan="3" style="font-size:110%">[[Verbs|Verb]]</td><td style="font-size:100%">[[Result complement]]</td><td>做完</td>
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<td class="spaced" rowspan="8" style="font-size:120%">[[Verbs|Verb]]</td><td class="spaced" rowspan="3" style="font-size:110%">[[Verbs|Verb]]</td><td class="spaced" style="font-size:100%">[[Result complement]]</td><td>做完</td>
 
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<td style="font-size:100%">[[Potential complement]]</td><td>看得懂</td>
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<td class="spaced" style="font-size:100%">[[Potential complement]]</td><td>看得懂</td>
 
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<td style="font-size:100%">[[Direction complement]]</td><td>走回来</td>
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<td class="spaced" style="font-size:100%">[[Direction complement]]</td><td>走回来</td>
 
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<td rowspan="2" style="font-size:110%">[[Adjectives|Adjective]]</td><td style="font-size:100%">[[Result complement]]</td><td>做好</td>
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<td class="spaced" rowspan="2" style="font-size:110%">[[Adjectives|Adjective]]</td><td class="spaced" style="font-size:100%">[[Result complement]]</td><td>做好</td>
 
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<td style="font-size:100%">[[State complement]]</td><td>想得很简单</td>
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<td class="spaced" style="font-size:100%">[[State complement]]</td><td>想得很简单</td>
 
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<td rowspan="2" style="font-size:100%">[[Prepositional phrases|Prepositional phrase]]</td><td style="font-size:100%">[[Location complement]]</td><td>住在北京</td>
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<td class="spaced" rowspan="2" style="font-size:100%">[[Prepositional phrases|Prepositional phrase]]</td><td class="spaced" style="font-size:100%">[[Location complement]]</td><td>住在北京</td>
 
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<td style="font-size:100%">[[Time complement]]</td><td>生于69年</td>
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<td class="spaced" style="font-size:100%">[[Time complement]]</td><td>生于69年</td>
 
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<td style="font-size:110%">[[Measure words|Measure word]] phrases</td><td style="font-size:100%">[[Quantity complement]]</td><td>去一次</td>
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<td class="spaced" style="font-size:110%">[[Measure words|Measure word]] phrases</td><td class="spaced" style="font-size:100%">[[Quantity complement]]</td><td>去一次</td>
 
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<td rowspan="5" style="font-size:120%">[[Adjectives|Adjective]]</td><td rowspan="2" style="font-size:110%">[[Adjectives|Adjective]]</td><td style="font-size:100%">[[Degree complement]]</td><td>做完</td>
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<td class="spaced" rowspan="5" style="font-size:120%">[[Adjectives|Adjective]]</td><td class="spaced" rowspan="2" style="font-size:110%">[[Adjectives|Adjective]]</td><td class="spaced" style="font-size:100%">[[Degree complement]]</td><td>做完</td>
 
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<td style="font-size:100%">[[Result complement]]</td><td>做好</td>
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<td class="spaced" style="font-size:100%">[[Result complement]]</td><td>做好</td>
 
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<td rowspan="2" style="font-size:110%">[[Adverbs|Adverb]]</td><td style="font-size:100%">[[Degree complement]]</td><td>好极了</td>
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<td class="spaced" rowspan="2" style="font-size:110%">[[Adverbs|Adverb]]</td><td class="spaced" style="font-size:100%">[[Degree complement]]</td><td>好极了</td>
 
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<td style="font-size:100%">[[Result complement]]</td><td>做好</td>
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<td class="spaced" style="font-size:100%">[[Result complement]]</td><td>做好</td>
 
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<td rowspan="2" style="font-size:110%">Other phrase</td><td style="font-size:100%">[[State complement]]</td><td>响得让人发疯</td>
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<td class="spaced" rowspan="2" style="font-size:110%">Other phrase</td><td class="spaced" style="font-size:100%">[[State complement]]</td><td>响得让人发疯</td>
 
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Revision as of 13:51, 6 August 2011

Also known as: 补语 (bǔyǔ) and objective complement.

Complements are a a special type of structure found in modern Mandarin which follow verbs (or sometimes adjectives) and provide additional information. They can be as short as one character, or practically as long as a sentence. According to A Practical Chinese Grammar for Foreigners, complements "show the duration, quantity, degree, result, direction or possibility of an action; or to illustrate the state, number, degree of a thing"[1].

Complements are not a form of flattery (those are compliments)[2]; they're much more versatile than that! But because complements have no exact counterpart in English, they can be a little bit difficult to get the hang of at first. As is often the case, plentiful examples will help clarify.

Summary of complement types

Below you'll find all the major complement types (as well as some of the minor ones), with representative examples of each. The first four (result complement, potential complement, direction complement, and degree complement) are the critical ones. Click on the complement names for more detailed explanations and plenty of additional examples.

Main Complement Types, with Examples
Type of ComplementVerbParticleComplementEnglish
Result complement to finish doing
to see
to buy (successfully)
计划 to plan (properly)
清楚to speak clearly
Potential complement 不了cannot go
can go
不到cannot hear
can see
不懂to (listen but) not understand
to be able to read and understand
can finish eating
Direction complementto put down
上去to walk up
回来to fly back (here)
过来to look (over) this way
Degree complement很好to speak (very) well
好* 极了great
累* 死了great
脏*不得了terribly dirty
State complement很简单to think very simply
很乱to make a mess (of things)
Quantity complement 一次to go once
工作 十个小时to work for 10 hours
Location complement 在北京to live in Beijing
到中国to come to China
Time complement 到明年to wait until next year
于69年to be born in '69

* OK, these are adjectives, not verbs!

Composition of complements

You might be wondering: what is the complement, exactly? For example, is it another verb, or an adjective or what? The answer is that it varies. It can be a verb, an adjective, a prepositional phrase, a measure word phrase, or a long, complex phrase. The following chart breaks it down.

Structure of Complements
Word Preceding ComplementComplement ContentComplement TypesExample
VerbVerbResult complement做完
Potential complement看得懂
Direction complement走回来
AdjectiveResult complement做好
State complement想得很简单
Prepositional phraseLocation complement住在北京
Time complement生于69年
Measure word phrasesQuantity complement去一次
AdjectiveAdjectiveDegree complement做完
Result complement做好
AdverbDegree complement好极了
Result complement做好
Other phraseState complement响得让人发疯

References

  1. A Practical Chinese Grammar for Foreigners, p. 271
  2. For more info on this common mistake, see this website.

Sources and further reading