Direction complement "-qilai"
起来 (qǐlái) comes up very frequently in Chinese and has a variety of meanings.
Contents
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。
- 他 把 袜子 收拾 起来 了。
As in the final example, 起来 can also have the idea of "collecting together", like "tidy up" in English.
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！
- 不好意思，我 记 不起来 你 的 名字!
Expressing initiation of an action
起来 can also be used to show that an action has started:
- 大家 笑 起来 了 (the same as 开始 笑)
- 两 个 大妈 吵 起来 了 (the same as 开始 吵架)
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
