Separable Verbs

"Separable verbs" get their name from their ability to "separate" into two parts, with other words in between. Separable verbs are an important concept to master in Chinese, and are also the source of many beginner mistakes. Mastering separable verbs is an essential objective of the intermediate-level learner of Chinese.

What they are

Mandarin's separable verbs have a counterpart in English: phrasal verbs (also called two-word verbs). While the structure of English's phrasal verbs is different, the "separable"quality works in a very similar way. Take the phrasal verb "check out" for example:

• Check out my new computer.
• Check my new computer out.

You see what happened there? The verb "check out" can split into two parts, and other words can go in between those two parts. Separable verbs work much the same way in Chinese.

Let's look at a typical example in Chinese, using the verb 见面, meaning "to meet."

• 我们 明天 见面 。 (no separating)
• 我们 昨天 见 了 面 。 (separated, 了 inserted)
• 我们 见 过三次 面 。 (separated, 过, 三次 inserted)

Below we will introduce separable verbs in more detail, provide more examples, and also offer more specific cases of where separable verbs can get tricky.