Result complement "-wan" for finishing

Revision as of 14:10, 30 April 2014 by HuaWei (talk | contribs)

Of all the result complements in Chinese, this one is one of the most satisfying to use, since it implies "finishing" something. On it's own, 完 (wán) means "to finish" or "complete." Using it in this grammar structure, it expresses the idea of doing the verb until you are complete.

Structure

As well as with 到 and 见, you can also form result complements with 完. This indicates that an action is finished or completed. The structure is:

Subject + Verb + 完 + Object

Examples

  • 我 说 了。I am finished talking.
  • 了 吗?Are you done eating?
  • 你 为什么 不 喝 这 杯 酒?Why are you not drinking up that glass of wine?
  • 你 没有 吃 你 的 水果。You haven't finished eating all of your fruit.
  • 我 昨天 晚上 看 了 那 本 书。I finished reading this book yesterday evening.
  • 这 些 作业 需要 两 个 小时。You will need two hours to finish the homework.
  • 以后 告诉 我。Tell me when you have finished watching.
  • 我们 学 了 100 个词。We studied 100 characters.
  • 你 什么时候 可以 用 电脑?When are you going to be done using the computer?
  • 我 今天 要 做 这些 事。I want to finish these things today. (Note that 些 means we are talking about more than one thing.)

See also

Sources and further reading

Books