Degree complement

Also known as: 程度补语 (chéngdù bǔyǔ) and complement of degree.

While most complements follow verbs, degree complements very often follow adjectives. They intensify or in some other way modify the degree of expression of the adjective (or verb).

When to Use Degree Complements

Until now, you may have probably been getting by just fine modifying your verbs with adverbs. You can use 非常 to say "very" and all that. Great. But once you learn to use degree complements, a whole new layer of expressiveness is infused into your language. You will be able to express degree of verbs and adjectives with much more precision and color. But how do you know when to use the degree complement? Here are the main reasons to use it:

  1. To express how a verb happened or assess its quality
  2. To express to what extent (or degree) an adjective is true

For the first case, the most typical examples would be describing how well an action is done, or in asking how well an action is done, which are sometimes also classified as descriptive complements and state complements.

  • 你们 觉得 我 画 得 怎么样 ？The complement is used to ask "how well I draw."
  • 我们 觉得 你 画 得 很 棒 。The complement tells us that "I draw very well."
  • 他 的 英语 说 得 怎么样 ？The complement is used to ask "how well he speaks English."
  • 他 的 英语 说 得 一般 。The complement tells us that "His English is average."

For the second case, instead of using the good old standby adverbs 很 and 非常, we can use all kinds of degree complements to spice up our adjective. A few more similar patterns will be introduced below.

A few more examples:

  • 她 长 得 不 好看 。 Tā zhǎng de bù hǎokàn.She is unattractive.
  • 你 想 得 太 复杂 了 。Nǐ zěnme xiǎng de zhème fùzá? You're overthinking it.
  • 奶奶 走 得 很 慢 。 Nǎinai zǒu de hěn màn.Grandma walks very slowly.

Descriptive and State Complements

Not every aspect of Chinese grammar is agreed upon in the world of academia, and this is the case with degree complements, descriptive complements, and state complements. Some scholars hold that the three are distinct, while others posit they're all just types of degree complements. Still others maintain that degree complements are one, and descriptive complements and state complements are also one.

Here's how a professor of Chinese at Yale puts it[1]:

Generally speaking, the complement of degree is a grammatical unit that describes the main verb of the sentence. Specifically, the complement of degree is an assessment of an action or a description of the consequential state of an action. It may also be a description of the degree of a state.

Hmm, so it sounds like descriptions and states are all degree complements? That's one of the views on the issue.

None of these classifications really matter though: the key is understanding them and using complements correctly to express yourself in Chinese. (This is already difficult without adding in unnecessary academic debate!)

Degree Complements with Verb-Obj.

Adding a verb to an object complicates a sentence in Mandarin, because a single verb cannot be followed by both an object and a complement. In order to express that kind of sentence, there are two approaches to take:

  • 你 说 中文 说 得 很 好 。 Nǐ shuō Zhōngwén shuō de hěn hǎo.You speak Chinese well. (lit. You speak Chinese speak it well.)
  • 你 中文 说 得 很 好 。Nǐ Zhōngwén shuō de hěn hǎo.You speak Chinese well. (lit. You Chinese speak well.)

Just to be completely clear, the following sentences are both incorrect:

  • 你 说 中文 很 好 。
  • 你 说 中文 得 很 好 。

Degree Complements Following Adjectives

Used with 了

There are three especially common degree complements which can follow adjectives immediately and are not preceded by a 得:

极了 (like 好), indicating an extremely high degree.

死了 usually comes after adjectives with negative connotations (like 忙, 累, 臭, 难看), and are commonly used to exaggerate the degree of how bad something is. In recent years, however, 死了 also comes after adjectives with positive connotations.

Figuratively 坏了 is a bit like the complement 死了, and can be used to mean "extremely" in a positive and negative sense.

A few examples：

  • 菜 的 味道 好 极了 。 Cài de wèidào hǎo jí le.This food's flavor is extremely good.
  • 这 件 衣服 漂亮 极了 。 Zhè jiàn yīfu piàoliang jí le.This piece of clothing is very beautiful.
  • 他 的 袜子 臭 死了 。 Tā de wàzi chòu sǐ le.His socks are so smelly.
  • 小狗 可爱 死了 。 Xiǎogǒu kě'ài sǐ le.Her baby is so cute!
  • 老师 说 今天 没有 作业 ，学生们 都 高兴 坏了 。The teacher said there's no homework for today, which made the students extremely happy.
  • 发现 儿子 又 跟 同学 打架，爸爸 气 坏了 。 Discovering that his son was fighting with his classmate again made the father so angry.

Note that 死 can also act as a result complement. In the examples above, however, it merely indicates an extreme degree (no actual deaths involved!).

In the last example, you might be wondering why "死了" is used with "可爱." After all, cute is a good thing! Recently, "死了" has been used with positive adjectives as well, resulting in phrases like "可爱死了,""漂亮死了," and "开心死了."

Used with 得

The expression of "degree" following a verb is quite broad. A vast array of adjectives can appear in the degree complement following verbs, indicating degree and quality. When it comes to adjectives, however, expression of degree is often much more limited. The following are some of the more common degree complements which follow adjectives.

  • 这个 学生 聪明 得 很 。Zhège xuéshēng cōngming de hěn.This student is very intelligent.
  • 我看 ，你的 工作 轻松 得 很 。Wǒkàn, nǐ de gōngzuò qīngsōng de hěn.In my opinion, your job is quite easy.
  • 他 固执 得 不得了 。Tā gùzhí de bùdéliǎo.He is extremely stubborn.
  • 赢 了 比赛 以后 ，他 骄傲 得 不得了 。Yíng le bǐsài yǐhòu, tā jiāo'ào de bùdéliǎo.He was extremely proud after he won the competition.
  • 我 儿子 淘气 得 要命 。Wǒ érzi táoqì de yàomìng.My son is incredibly naughty.
  • 地铁 挤 得 要命 ！Dìtiě jǐ de yàomìng!The metro is incredibly crowded!
  • 我 的 牙 痛 得 不 行 ！Wǒ de yá tòng de bùxíng!My teeth hurt so badly!
  • 今天 热 得 不 行 。Jīntiān rè de bùxíng.It's so hot today.

Compared with Potential Complements

Some sentences that contain adjective complements may be indistinguishable as degree or potential complements when they are taken out of context. The following table explains different meanings that one complement phrase could have as either a degree or potential.

Examples of complement phrases that can serve as both degree and potential complements
Example Degree Complement Translation Potential Complement Translation
她说得很清楚 "She speaks clearly." "She is able to speak very clearly."
他做得非常快 "He does it very fast." "He is able to do it very fast."
他们跳得不错 "They dance well." "They are able to dance well."

Degree complements commonly are directly preceded by an adverb (她说得很清楚) distinguishing them from potential complements which are never directly preceded by an adverb.

Sources and further reading

Books

Websites

  1. ↑ See the article is the complement of degree? by Ling Mu, Rongzhen Li, and Peisong Xu.
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