Direction complement "-qilai"

起来 (qǐlái) comes up very frequently in Chinese and has a variety of meanings. It is often used similarly to "up" in English.

Expressing an upward movement:

起来 can be used to like "up", where in English we say "stand up", or "pick up".

• 大家 站 起来 了。
• 快点 把 垃圾 捡 起来。

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".

• 请 把13 和 15 加 起来。
• 他 把 袜子 收拾 起来 了。
• 一个 优秀 的 领袖 会 让 他 的 国民 团结 起来。

Expressing recollection

It can also be used figuratively to express remembering something that was forgotten, and is almost like the speaker picking memories up out of their mind.

• 我 想 起来 了！我们 是 去年 在 北京 开会 的 时候 见面 的！

Expressing initiation of an action

起来 can also be used to show that an action has started.

• 大家 笑 起来 了
• 两 个 大妈 吵 起来 了

So 笑起来 is the same as 开始笑. When used like this, 起来 is only used with spontaneous actions, like 唱, 跳, 讨论 etc.

Expressing a superficial judgement

起来 can also be used to express a superficial 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。
• 那 听 起来 不错。
• 这 瓶 啤酒 尝 起来 像 比利时的。

See also

• Result complement

Sources and further reading

Websites

• Yale: Extended meaning of some directional complements

Books

• 汉语语法百项讲练 pp.25-31
• Boya Chinese: Elementary Starter II p.80
• New Practical Chinese Reader: Textbook 5 pp.134-135