Location complement
- Also known as: 处所补语 (chǔsuǒ bǔyǔ), locational complements and complements of location.
Location complements follow verbs to indicate the location that the action of the verb leads to. Not all verbs can take location complements; for most verbs, location comes before the verb in the standard word order. Many students of Chinese find it useful to treat these verbs as special exceptions.
When to use Location Complements
Only certain verbs that are closely tied to the idea of 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. Other verbs like 住 (live), 待 (stay), 坐 (sit), and 站 (stand) are also frequently tied to a physical location. The location complement indicates the location that the action of the verb takes place in or leads to.
| Subject | Verb (Object) | Location Complement | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 汽车 | 停 | 在停车场 | 。 |
| 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
References and Further Reading
Books
- Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second Edition pages 104-105 (needs affiliate link)
