Direction complement "-qilai"

起来 (qǐlái) comes up very frequently in Chinese and can be used both literally and figuratively. This is a little like the usage of "up" in English which can be used literally, as in "stand up", or figuratively, as in "add up".

Expressing an upward movement:

起来 can be used to express an upward movement like "up", as in the English examples of "stand up" or "pick up."

• 请大家 站 起来 。 Please stand up.
• 快点 把 垃圾 捡 起来。Quickly pick up the trash.

Expressing bringing things together

起来 can be used to express collecting things together, where in English we might say "tidy up", or "add up".

• 他 把 衣服 都收 起来 了。He put away his clothes.
• 把 你的 工资 和 奖金 加 起来就知道你这个月的收入了。Add your salary and bonus together and you'll figure out your income.
• 一个 优秀 的 领袖 会 让 他 的 人民 团结 起来。An outstanding leader can make his people come together.

Expressing an initial judgement

起来 can also be used to express a preliminary judgement. 起来 is used here to express that the speaker has only just initiated an action, and based on that, has made a quick judgement. It is used in the following structure:

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。He looks very friendly.
• 这件事情听 起来 有点 复杂。This matter sounds a little bit complex.
• 你点的菜 尝 起来 味道 不错。The dishes that you ordered tastes good .
• 这 件 衣服 摸 起来 很 舒服 。These clothes feel very comfortable.

See also

• 下去
• 出来
• Direction complement
• Result complements "dao" and "jian"
• Appearance with "kanqilai"

Sources and further reading

Books

• Chinese Grammar - Broken down into 100 items - Basic and Intermediate Levels (汉语语法百项讲练 - 初中级) (pp. 25-31) →buy
• Boya Chinese Elementary Starter 2 (博雅汉语初经起步篇) (pp. 80)→buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 5 (新实用汉语课本5) (pp. 134-5)→buy
• 40 Lessons for Basic Chinese Course (基础汉语40课下册） (pp. 355-6)→buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 2 (p. 20) →buy

Websites

• Yale: Extended meaning of some directional complements