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	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'.
写	对	Write + correct ⇒ to write something correctly
学	会	Study + able ⇒ to master
洗	洗干净	Wash + clean ⇒ to wash something and make it clean

In each of the examples above, a compound verb has been created from a verb plus another verb or adjective. These compounds then behave exactly like other verbs. They can take objects, adverbs and be negated just like other verbs.

Sources and further reading

• 外国人实用汉语语法(中英文对照) (pp. 273 - 284)