Difference between revisions of "Direction complement "-qilai""

Revision as of 05:00, 14 November 2011

起来 (qǐlái) comes up very frequently in Chinese and has a variety of meanings. Literally, it is used to express an upward movement:

大家站起来了。
把垃圾捡起来。

It can also be used figuratively to express remembering something that was forgotten

我想起来了！我们是去年在北京开会的时候见面的！
不好意思，我记不起来你的名字!

Subject + Verb + 起来 + Adjective

This expresses that the subject seems adjective when the action of the verb is performed. This structure is frequently used with perception verbs such as 看, 听, 尝 etc.

Some examples:

他看起来很友好。
那听起来不错。
这瓶啤酒尝起来像比利时的。

起来 can also be used to show that an action has started:

大家笑起来了 (the same as 大家开始笑)
两个大妈吵起来了 (the same as 开始吵架)

起来 is often with for spontaneous actions, 起来 cannot be used to for actions which are scheduled

Sources and further reading

Websites

Yale: Extended meaning of some directional complements

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-起来 (qǐlái) comes up very frequently in Chinese and has a variety of meanings. One common use is to talk about how something seems or appears after an action is performed on it. The structure is:
+起来 (qǐlái) comes up very frequently in Chinese and has a variety of meanings. Literally, it is used to express an upward movement:
+<div class="liju">
+* 大家 站 起来 了。
+* 把 垃圾 捡 起来。
+</div>
+It can also be used figuratively to express remembering something that was forgotten
+<div class="liju">
+* 我 想 起来 了！我们 是 去年 在 北京 开会 的 时候 见面 的！
+* 不好意思，我 记 不起来 你 的 名字!
+</div>
 <div class="jiegou">
@@ Line 15: / Line 29: @@
 * 他 看 <em>起来</em> 很 友好。
 * 那 听 <em>起来</em> 不错。
-* 这 个 啤酒 尝 <em>起来</em> 是 比利时的。
+* 这 瓶 啤酒 尝 <em>起来</em> 像 比利时的。
 </div>
+起来 can also be used to show that an action has started:
+* 大家笑起来了 (the same as 大家开始笑)
+* 两个大妈吵起来了 (the same as 开始吵架)
+起来 is often with for spontaneous actions, 起来 cannot be used to for actions which are scheduled
 ==See also==