Direction complement

Also known as: 趋向补语 (qūxiàng bǔyǔ), directional complement and complement of direction.

A direction complement is a verbal complement that's used, you guessed it, to describe the direction of a verb.

Coming and going

The most basic (and common) form of direction complement is formed by a verb and 来 or 去:

Verb + 来 or 去

The most important thing to consider with direction complements is the position of the speaker. If the action moves towards the speaker or comes closer in any way, use 来. If the action moves away from the speaker or becomes more distant in any way, use 去.

Direction complement examples

	Direction	Verb	Complement	Explanation
Position of speaker	←	下	下来	The movement is down towards the speaker: "come down"
	→	下	下去	The movement is down away from the speaker: "go down"
	←	上	上来	The movement is up towards the speaker: "come up"
	→	上	上去	The movement is up and away from the speaker: "go up"
	←	出	出来	The movement is out and towards the speaker: "come out"
	→	出	出去	The movement is out and away from the speaker: "go out"
	←	进	进来	The movement is in and towards the speaker: "come in"
	→	进	进去	The movement is in and away from the speaker: "go in"

You might be wondering how the directional distinction between 来 and 去 works when you're talking about yourself moving. You can't move away from or towards yourself, so should it be 来 or 去? The answer is to look at the context of the movement you're talking about. Are you telling someone you'll see them tomorrow? As in English, in Chinese you'd say something like "I'll come and see you tomorrow".

Usage examples

You can use these simple compounds in a huge variety of situations. Here are some examples:

• 我 在 楼上，请 上来。
• 妈妈 对 儿子 说：“爬 树 很 危险，你 下来！”
• 你 在 楼上，我 上来。
• 你 在 楼下，我 下来。

• 我 在 外面，请 出来。
• 我 在 里面，请 进来。
• 他们 在 外面，咱们 出去 跟 他们 见面。
• 你 先 进去 吧。

With other verbs

来 and 去 can form direction compounds with many other verbs. Some more examples:

• 别 想念 我，我 明天 回来。
• 他 明天 回去，我 会 想念 他。

• 我 有 件 事 想 跟 你 讨论，请 过来。
• 我 看到 路边 发生 了 事故，所以 过去 了。

Adding a place with 到

Direction complements are very useful for talking about arriving at destinations. The structure for this is:

到 + place + 来 or 去

Notice that you separate the verb from its direction complement. The location goes in between the two. Some examples:

• 我 刚才 到 上海 来 了。
• 你 想 到 我家 来 吗？
• 我 明年 会 到 巴黎 去。
• 他 没有 到 中国 去 过。

Compound direction complements

Direction complements can be more complex than just 来 or 去. You can form compound direction complements in the following way:

Compound direction complements

	上	下	进	出	回	过	起
来	上来	下来	进来	出来	回来	过来	起来
去	上去	下去	进去	出去	回去	过去	-

These compounds can then be used in the same way as 来 and 去. Attach them to verbs to give detail about the direction of the action. Some examples:

Compound direction complement examples

Subject	Verb	Direction complement
你	坐	下来	。
他	走	进来	。
她	坐飞机	回来	。
我们	走	出来	。
你	跑步	过来	。
你们	站	起来	。
咱们	来走	下去	。

Direction complements and objects

Direction complements are not only used to describe the movement of people. Moving objects can also be described with direction complements. Again, the direction of the movement relative to the speaker (or at least to the context of the conversation) is what's most important when deciding what complement to use.

Subject + verb + direction complement + object

This is the structure for the basic form of a sentence with a direction complement and an object. Verbs that commonly appear in this construction include 拿, 送, 奇 and 带. Some examples:

• 我 带 来 了 一 些 水果。
• 我 从 书架 上 拿 下来 一 本 书。
• 他 给 我 送 来 了 一 个 包裹。
• 我 在 路上 拿 起来 了 这 梅 硬币。
• 放 下 你的 手枪！

Direction complements and 把

Direction complements work very well in 把 sentences, as they can be used to describe the disposal of an object (what happened to it in the end). Because of this, it's very common to see direction complements and 把 appearing together. The structure is:

Subject + 把 + Object + Verb + Direction complement

The above examples can be re-arranged into 把 sentences:

• 我 把 一 些 水果 带 来 了。
• 我 把 一 本 书 从 书架 上 拿 下来 了。
• 他 把 一 个 包裹 给 我 送 去 了。
• 我 在 路上 把 这 梅 硬币 拿 起来 了。
• 把 你的 手枪 放 下来！

See also: 把 sentences

Negating direction complements

Direction complements are negated in the same way as other complements. Treat the verb and direction complement as a compound verb, and negate it with 不 or 没有:

Subject + 不 or 没有 + Verb + Direction complement

Some examples:

• 我 不会 回 去。
• 他 没有 拿 起来 他的 东西。

Direction 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 到 上海 来 了 吗？
• 这 个 楼 很 高 － 你 能 上去 吗？

• 刚才 从 那 个 楼房 出来 的 人 是 谁？
• 你 什么 时候 会 回来？

• 你 想 不想 跟 我 出去？
• 你 能 不能 把 这 个 盒子 拿 起来？

Direction complements with aspect particles

The aspect particles 了 and 过 can be used with direction complements. These are placed after the direction complement. 着 can not be used with direction complements

Some examples:

• 我 回来 了。
• 他 走 出来 了。
• 我 带来 了 我的 朋友。

• 离开 中国 以后，他 没有 回来 过。
• 我 在 上海 出去 过 几 次。
• 我 没 进去 过 那 间 房间。

Additional meanings of direction complements

A lot of direction complements, particularly compound direction complements, have additional idiomatic meanings beyond literally describing the direction of an action. The most common of these are described below.

起来

起来 is often used to describe an action starting or being in its early stages. This makes sense if you think about 起来 describing actions that move up and towards the speaker; things are leaping into action.

Examples:

• 天气 冷 起来 了。
• 人工 工作 起来 了。
• 那 两 个 喝醉 的 男人 打 起来 了。

起来 can also be attached to verbs about thinking things up or recollecting them. Again, this makes sense with thinking things up, and with the idea of pulling memories up.

Examples:

• 这 是 谁 想 起来 的 意见？
• 你 记 起来 了 吗？
• 我 考虑 起来 以后 就 会 给 你 答案。

Finally, 起来 can also be used with perception verbs to talk about how something seems. This is the equivalent of phrases like "sounds good" and "looks good" in English.

• 这 个 学生 看 起来 很 聪明。
• 那 个 政客 听 起来 不 可信 的。

出来

出来 is used to describe perceiving extra information through the senses. Often in English this is described with the verb "to tell", e.g. "I can tell you're lying." Again, using 出来 for this makes sense - it's like teasing out the information.

• 我看出来这个是假的。
• 他给我打了电话，但是我没听出来是他。
• 这 个 菜 里面 有 特殊 的 成分 － 你们尝出来吗？
• 我没认出来你。

下去

下去 can be used to describe an action continuing or proceeding.

Examples:

• 我累死了，不能走下去！
• 咱们工作下去吧。
• 那个人说的话很无聊，希望他不会说下去。

Sources and further reading

Books

• 外国人实用汉语语法(中英文对照) (pp. 302 - 317)
• Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar (pp. 58 - 65)

Websites

• Mandarin Essential Grammar (Yale): Directional Complements