Location complement
- Also known as: 处所补语 (chǔsuǒbǔyǔ), locational complements and complements of location.
Location complements follow verbs to indicate the location of the subject after completing the action of the verb.
When to use Location Complements
Only verbs that imply motion of the subject towards a location can take location complements. For example, 走 (walk), 停 (park), 爬上 (climb), 跌入 (fall) all imply some sort of directional motion. The location complement indicates the location that the action of the verb leads to.
| Subject | Verb (Object) | Location Complement | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 汽车 | 停 | 在停车场 | 。 |
| 孩子 | 跌入 | 游泳池里 | 。 |
| 我 | 坐 | 在椅子 | 。 |
| 蝴蝶 | 落 | 在花朵上 | 。 |
| 妈妈 | 把小孩子抱 | 在怀里 | 。 |
| 父母 | 把礼物藏 | 在床下 | 。 |
Other verbs that don't imply motion towards something can't take location complements. Some verbs may take place in a location but do not imply motion towards that location. In that case an adverbial location phrase should be used before the verb. For more on word order of place phrases see Placement of place words in a sentence. A few examples of sentences where an adverbial place phrase should be used and not a location complement：
- 我 在家 学习
- 你 在上海 工作
- 他们 在篮球场上 打羽毛球
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References and Further Reading
Books
- Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second Edition pages 104-105 (needs affiliate link)
