Advanced uses of direction complement "-qilai"

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We saw in B1 that 起来 (qǐlái), among other things, can be used to express a literal upward movement. 起来 also has some more slightly less intuitive usages, listed below.\r\n==Expressing bringing things together==\r\n===Structure===\r\n起来 can be used to express collecting things together, where in English we might say "tidy up", or "add up".\r\n

Verb + 起来

\r\n===Examples===\r\n

\r\n* 请 把13 和 15 加 起来。Please add 13 and 15 together.
  • 宝宝，你 应该 把 你 的 玩具 收 起来 。Darling, you should put your toys away.
  • 怎么 才 能 让 她 高兴 起来。Anything to make her be happy.\r\n

\r\n==Expressing initiation of an action==\r\n===Structure===\r\n起来 can also be used to show that an action or state has started and is ongoing:\r\n

Verb + 起来 +　了

\r\n===Examples===\r\n

  • 大家 笑 起来 了。Everyone started laughing.
  • 两 个 大妈 吵 起来 了。Two aunts started arguing.
  • 今天 天气 热 起来 了。It's starting to get hot today.
  • 他 的 病 好起来了。His illness is starting to get better.

\r\nWhen used like this, 起来 is only used with spontaneous actions, like 唱, 跳, 讨论, or with states like 热，冷，or 好 etc. It cannot be used with planned actions. \r\n

  • 我们 做饭 起来 吧。
  • 我们 开始 做饭 吧。

\r\n==See also==

===Books===\r\n* Boya Chinese Elementary Starter 2 (博雅汉语初经起步篇) (pp. 80) →buy

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