Resultative complement "kai"

开 (kāi) means "to open", but when used as a complement can mean different things with different verbs.

Structure

Verb + 开

Examples

开 can be used literally to "open up" or to "turn on":

• 他 急忙 拆 开 信封。He nervously opened the envelope.
• 他 睁开 眼睛 看 到 了 一 片 蓝色 的 天空。He opened his eyes and saw a clear blue sky.
• 来，张开 嘴巴，我 喂 你。Come on, open your mouth. I'll feed you.
• 我 每天 一 下班 回 家 就 打开 电视 看 垃圾 节目。Every day, as soon as I get off work, I go home, turn on the TV and watch trashy shows.

开 can be used to express an action that is occurring in a direction away from the speaker. When used in this sense, 开 is generally used with verbs involving releasing, unfolding or spreading out:

• 来来，大家散开，别 看 热闹 了！Come on. Break it up. Don't watch this.
• 你 走开 滚！Get lost!
• 关于 章子怡 的 丑闻 很快 就 传开 了.A lot has been rumored about Zhang Ziyi's scandal.
• 你 到底 想 做 什么？快点 放开我！What on earth do you want to do? Hurry up and tell me!

开 used to express solving a problem or getting a weight off one's mind.

• 他 一直 想不开 这 件事 ，我 怕 他 会 做 坏 事！He hasn't been able to get this off his mind. I'm scared he's going to something bad!
• 我 知道 易说难做，但是 你 尽量 看开 一些 吧 。I know it's easier said than done, but you should still look at it a little.
• 我们 把 问题 说开 了。We talked about the problem openly.

See also

• Resultative Complement "zhu"
• Resultative Complement "huai"

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. 342) →buy

HSK5