State complement

Also known as: 状态补语 (zhuàngtài bǔyǔ), 情态补语 (qíngtài bǔyǔ) and complement of state.

State complements describe an achieved state of an action. State complements are usually adjective phrases (adverb + adjective) but can take the form of verbal phrases, subject-predicate phrase or other complements. State complements that are adjective phrases often look the same as degree complements and thus often lumped together with degree complements in textbooks.

Adjective Phrases as State Complements

In a state complement phrase, the verb must be followed by 得, and then the complement follows. The most common type of state complement, where the complement is an adjective phrase, is formed by placing the adjective phrase after 得.

Structure

Subject + Verb + 得 + Complement

Examples

她来 得很晚 。She came very late.
孩子们玩 得很开心 。The kids are having lots of fun.
我昨天睡 得不太好 。I didn't sleep very well yesterday.

If the verb taking a complement also has an object, you can repeat the verb: once for the object, then once for the complement:

我弟弟做作业做 得很慢 。Wǒ dìdi zuò zuòyè zuò de hěn màn.My younger brother does his homework very slowly.
他吃东西吃 得很快 。He eats very fast.

Verb Phrases and other Complements as State Complements

Verb phrases (VP), subject-predicate phrases (SP) and other complements can also serve as complements of state. As with adjective phrase state complements, they can describe a state that arose from the action of the main verb in the sentence. Some examples:

他们唱歌唱得 忘了时间 。 Here the state complement is a verb phrase and expresses the state to which the subject got caught up in their singing activities (probably at KTV).They sang to the point where they lost track of time.
我儿子玩游戏玩 得一晚上没睡 。 My son played the video games to the point where he didn't sleep at all last night.
地铁挤 得我下不去 。The metro was crowded to the point where I couldn't get off.
听到这个消息，她激动得 哭了起来 。The state complement in this example is used to describe the state of excitement the subject has arrived at.Hearing this news, she was excited to point where she started crying.