Complement

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Complements are not a form of flattery (those are compliments)[1]; they're a special type of structure found in modern Mandarin and have no exact counterpart in English. The Chinese word for complement is 补语 (bǔyǔ).

Complements are a bit hard to define, but you'll generally find them following verbs (or sometimes adjectives). 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"[2]. As is often the case, plentiful examples will help clarify!

Summary of complements

Result complement

Result complement

Potential complement

Potential complement

Direction complement

Direction complement

(Compound direction complements)

Quantity complement

Quantity complement

Degree complement

Degree complement

Location complement

Location complement

References

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

Sources and further reading