State complement

Also known as: 状态补语 (zhuàngtài bǔyǔ) and complement of state.

State complements describe an achieved state of an action. State complements are usually adjective phrases (adverb + adjective) but can take the form of verbal phrases, subject-predicate phrase or other complements. State complements that are adjective phrases often look the same as degree complements and thus often lumped together with degree complements in textbooks. However, often state complements take a very distinct form of complement (such as entire verb phrases that serve as state complements) which is why they are sometimes categorized as a distinct form of complement. State complement phrases can be quite complex, at times having entire complement phrases act as the state complement. It may be useful to think of more complex complement phrases as meaning "(verb) to the point of (complement)".

Different Kinds of State Complements

Adjective Phrase State Complements

In a state complement phrase the verb must be followed by 得 then the complement follows. The most common type of state complement of state, where the complement is an adjective phrase, is formed by placing the adjective phrase after 得. If the verb taking a complement also has an object the should occur after the object and before 得. The sentence is negated by putting 不 in place of the adverb (not before the verb) Some examples:

Adjective Phrases as State Complements

Subject	(Verb)	Object	Verb	得	Adverb	Adjective	Particle
她	来	校园	来	得	很	晚	了	。
马先生			住	得	不	好		。
他们			玩	得	很	快乐		。
我	(写)	汉字	写	得	很	慢		。

Phrases and other complements as State Complements

Verb phrases (VP), subject-predicate phrases (SP) and other complements (CP) can also serve as complements of state. As with adjective phrase state complements they can describe a state that arose from the action of the main verb in the sentence. Some examples:

Subject	Verb	得	VP/SP/CP	Explanation
这件房间	满	得	放不下其他东西了	This example uses a potential complement phrase to express that state of the room: "This room is filled to the point that you are unable to fit more stuff."
他们	唱歌唱	得	忘了时间	Here the state complement is a verb phrase and expresses the state to which the subject got caught up in their singing activities (probably at KTV) "They sang to the point where they lost track of time."
我的姐姐	吃饭吃	得	满嘴流油	This state complement is also a verb phrase and expresses the resulting state of the subject's eating: "My sister ate to the point that her mouth was flowing with oil."
太太	激动	得	热血沸腾	The state complement in this example is an idiomatic phrase that describes the state of anger the subject has arrived at: "The wife was agitated to point of burning rage."

State Complements in Questions

You can form questions with sentences containing result complements just as you would with any other sentence:

• With a question particle
• With a question word
• With positive-negative inversion

Some examples:

• 你 来 得 很早 吗 ？
• 你 住 得 很好 吗 ？

• 谁 玩 得 最 高兴 ？
• 什么地方 发展 得 很 好 ？

• 工作 得 好 不好？
• 衣服 洗 得 干净 不 干净？

References and Further Reading

Books

• New Practical Chinese Reader 2 (新实用汉语课本2) (pp. 15-6) →buy

• New Practical Chinese Reader 3 (新实用汉语课本3) (pp. 65-6) →buy

Websites

• About Chinese Language, XCN Chinese The Complement of State