Advanced uses of direction complement "-qilai"

We have seen before that 起来 (qǐlái), among other things, can be used to express a literal upward movement. 起来 also has some less intuitive usages, which are figurative extensions of the "movement" idea. For example, 起来 can be used to express collecting things together, sort of like in English we might say "tidy up," or "gather up."

Structure

Verb + 起来

Note that you will often see this pattern used with 把 sentence.

Subj. + 把 + Obj. + Verb + 起来

Examples

These examples are all more literal cases of bringing physical things together is some way.

• 13 和 15 加 起来 是 多少 ？Shísān hé shíwǔ jiā qǐlái shì duōshǎo?How much are 13 and 15 added up?
• 他 把 衣服 都 收 起来 了 。Tā bǎ yīfu dōu shōu qǐlái le.He put away the clothes.
• 我 老婆 把 钱 都 存 起来 了 。Wǒ lǎopo bǎ qián dōu cún qǐlái le.My wife saves all our money.
• 把 你 的 玩具 都 收 起来 。bǎ nǐ de wánjù dōu shōu qǐlái.Put your toys away.
• 你 为什么 要 把 我 的 手机 藏 起来 ？Nǐ wèishénme yào bǎ wǒ de shǒujī cáng qǐlái?Why would you hide my cell phone?
• 你 可以 把 手机 拆开 ， 但是 你 能 重新 装 起来 吗 ？ Nǐ kěyǐ bǎ shǒujī chāikāi, dànshì nǐ néng chóngxīn zhuāng qǐlái ma?You can take the phone apart, but can you put it all back together again?

起来 can also be used to express more abstract concepts of bringing things together.

• 这 两 个 颜色 搭配 起来 很 漂亮 。 Zhè liǎng gè yánsè dāpèi qǐlái hěn piàoliang.These two colors look great when you combine them.
• 如果 我们 团结 起来 ，一定 能 赢 。Rúguǒ wǒmen tuánjié qǐlái, yīdìng néng yíng.We will absolutely win this if we band together.
• 如果 你 把 工作 和 兴趣 结合 起来，工作 就 会 很 快乐 。Rúguǒ nǐ bǎ gōngzuò hé xìngqù jiéhé qǐlái, gōngzuò jiù huì hěn kuàilè. If you combine your work with your interests, working will be fun.
• 如果 你 能 回忆 起来 这 件 事情，就 好 了。Rúguǒ nǐ néng huíyì qǐlái zhè jiàn shìqing, jiù hǎo le.It would be good if you could recall this incident.

See also

• Result complement "-qilai"
• Figurative directional complements 下去 and 出来
• Direction complement
• Result complements "dao" and "jian"
• Appearance with "kanqilai"

Sources and further reading

Books

• HSK Standard Course 4下 (pp. 135) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy
• Boya Chinese Elementary Starter 2 (博雅汉语初经起步篇) (pp. 80) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy
• Chinese Grammar - Broken down into 100 items - Basic and Intermediate Levels (汉语语法百项讲练 - 初中级) (pp. 25-31) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (pp. 141-2) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 1 (pp. 342-3) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 2 (pp. 20) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 3 (新实用汉语课本3) (pp. 169) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 5 (新实用汉语课本5) (pp. 134-5) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy

Websites

• Yale: Extended meaning of some directional complements

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