Result complement

Result complements, also known as "resultative complements" and "complements of result" in English, are called 结果补语 (literally, "result complement") in Chinese. Surprisingly enough, they're used to describe the result (or lack of) of a verb.

Why result complements are necessary in Chinese

In English, we have separate verbs to describe actions depending on their outcome. You can look, but not see, or listen, but not hear. In Chinese, verbs tend to be of the 'look' and 'listen' variety - the result isn't included like it is in 'see' and 'hear'. So if you want to indicate the result, you have to use a result complement.

Forming the result complement

Result complements form verbal compounds that behave exactly the same as normal verbs. The compound is formed by a verb plus another verb or an adjective:

Result complement examples

Verb	Example result compound	Explanation
看	看见	看 alone means 'to look'. 看见 includes the result - 'to see'.
听	听到	Again, 听 alone means 'to listen', but 听到 means 'to hear'.
洗	洗干净	Wash + clean ⇒ to wash something and make it clean
写	对	Write + correct ⇒ to write something correctly
学	会	Study + able ⇒ to master

Sources and further reading

• 外国人实用汉语语法(中英文对照) (pp. 273 - 284)