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]. The Chinese word for complement is 补语 (bǔyǔ).
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!
Contents
Summary of complement types
Below you'll find all the major complement types, with representative examples of each. Click through for a more detailed explanation and more examples.
| Type of Complement | Verb | Complement | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Result complement | 做 | 完 | to finish doing |
| 看 | 见 | to see | |
| 买 | 到 | to buy (successfully) | |
| 计划 | 好 | to plan (properly) | |
| 说 | 清楚 | to speak clearly | |
| Potential complement | 去 | 不了 | cannot go |
| 去 | 得了 | can go | |
| 听 | 不到 | cannot hear | |
| 看 | 得见 | can see | |
| 听 | 不懂 | to (listen but) not understand | |
| 看 | 得懂 | to be able to read and understand | |
| 吃 | 得完 | can finish eating | |
| Direction complement | 放 | 下 | to put down |
| 走 | 上去 | to walk up | |
| 飞 | 回来 | to fly back (here) | |
| 看 | 过来 | to look (over) this way | |
| Degree complement | 说 | 得很好 | to speak (very) well |
| 好* | 极了 | great | |
| State complement | 想 | 很简单 | to think very simply |
| 搞 | 得很乱 | to make a mess (of things) | |
| Quantity complement | 去 | 一次 | to go once |
| 工作 | 十个小时 | to work for 10 hours | |
| Location complement | 住 | 在北京 | to live in Beijing |
| 来 | 到中国 | to come to China | |
| Time complement | 等 | 到明年 | to wait until next year |
| 生 | 于69年 | to be born in '69 |
* OK, this one is an adjective, not a verb!
Result complement
Potential complement
Direction complement
(Compound direction complements)
Quantity complement
Degree complement
Location complement
References
- ↑ A Practical Chinese Grammar for Foreigners, p. 271
- ↑ For more info on this common mistake, see this website.
Sources and further reading
- Grammar book: 外国人实用汉语语法(中英文对照) (pp. 242 - 243, pp. 271 - 329)
