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Revision as of 03:04, 15 September 2017

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

A complement is a word or phrase following a verb (or sometimes an adjective) that provides additional meaning to the verb phrase. Complements are not the same as objects, and 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!

Summary of complement types

Because Chinese 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.

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 Complement Verb Particle 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
累* 死了tired "to death"
脏*得不得了terribly dirty
State complement想得很简单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, 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 Complement Complement Content Complement Types Example
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

When to use complements

You might be wondering: when do I use a complement? That's a good question, because often there are non-complement ways to express what the complement expresses. For example, do you use the 不了 complement after a verb, or do you put 不能 before the verb? Do you use an adverb before the verb (快快地跑), or do you put the same information in a complement after the verb (跑得快)? The sad answer is that it depends. There are many factors involved.

As a learner, the best thing you can do is to memorize the complements you encounter the most often, and start using them. The longer you've been using them, the more natural they'll feel, and when to use them will become clearer and clearer. One good place to start is our list of common verbs with complements.

Grammar Points for Complements

A2 Complements

Grammar Point (English) Pattern Examples
Potential complement "-bu dong" for not understanding Verb + 不懂 我 听不懂 。
Result complement "-wan" for finishing Verb + 完 (+ 了) 我 说 完 了。
Result complements "-dao" and "-jian" Verb + 到 / 见 听 到 了 吗 ？

B1 Complements

Grammar Point (English) Pattern Examples
Degree complement Verb + 得⋯⋯ 你 做 得 不错 。
Direction complement Verb (+ Direction) + 来 / 去 我们 走 过去 吧 。
Direction complement "-qilai" Verb / Adj.+ 起来 天气 热 起来 了 。
Potential complement Verb + 得 / 不 + Complement 做 得 完 / 做 不 完
Result complement "-xiaqu" Verb + 下去 这个 故事 太 无聊 了 ，我 听 不 下去 了 。
Result complements Verb + 好 / 完 / 错 我们 吃 好 了 。

B2 Complements

Grammar Point (English) Pattern Examples
Advanced degree complements Adj. + 得 + 很 / 不得了 / 要命 / 不行 我 老婆 的 工作 轻松 得很 。
Advanced potential complements Verb + 得了 / 不了 今晚 我 有事 ，去 不 了 。
Advanced result complements "zhu", "kai", and "chulai" Verb + 住 / 开 / 出(来) 抓住 那个 小偷 ！
Advanced uses of direction complement "-qilai" Verb + 起来 宝宝，你 应该 把 你 的 玩具 收 起来 。
Complement "-huai le" Verb + 坏了 坏 了。
Complement "-zhao" Verb + 着 宝宝 刚 睡 着。
Tricky uses of "dao" Verb + 到 他 做 到 了 吗 ？
Using "lai" and "qu" when "verbing around" Verb + 来 + Verb + 去 他 考虑 来 考虑 去 ， 最后 还是 决定 回 学校 。



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

Books

Websites

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