Difference between revisions of "Complement"
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== Result complement == | == Result complement == | ||
Revision as of 13:14, 28 July 2011
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!
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 |
| 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 | |
| Quantity complement | 去 | 一次 | to go once |
| 工作 | 十个小时 | to work for 10 hours | |
| Degree complement | 说 | 得很好 | to speak (very) well |
| 好* | 极了 | great | |
| Location complement | 住 | 在北京 | to live in Beijing |
| 来 | 到中国 | to come to China |
* 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
- ↑ For more info on this common mistake, see this website.
- ↑ A Practical Chinese Grammar for Foreigners, p. 271
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)
