Advanced uses of direction complement "-qilai"

We saw in B1 that 起来 (qǐlái), among other things, can be used to express a literal upward movement. 起来 also has some more slightly less intuitive usages, listed below.

Expressing bringing things together

Structure

起来 can be used to express collecting things together, where in English we might say "tidy up", or "add up".

Verb / Adj. + 起来

Examples

• 他 把 衣服 都收 起来 了。Tā bǎ yīfu dōu shōu qǐlái le.He put away his clothes.
• 把 你的 工资 和 奖金 加 起来就知道你这个月的收入了。Bǎ nǐ de gōngzī hé jiǎngjīn jiā qǐlái jiù zhīdao nǐ zhè ge yuè de shōurù le.Add your salary and bonus together and you'll figure out your income.
• 请 把13 和 15 加 起来。Please add 13 and 15 together.
• 宝宝，你 应该 把 你 的 玩具 收 起来 。Darling, you should put your toys away.

Structure

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

Examples

• 一个 优秀 的 领袖 会 让 他 的 人民 团结 起来。Yī gè yōuxiù de lǐngxiù huì ràng tā de rénmín tuánjié qǐlái. An outstanding leader can make his people come together.
• 要 想 让 这 次 活动 成功， 就 一定 要 把 所有 人 都 组织 起来？ If we want this event to succeed, we must organize all the people.

Expressing initiation of an action

Structure

起来 can also be used to show that an action or state has started and is ongoing:

Verb / Adj. + 起来 +了

Examples

• 大家 笑 起来 了。Everyone started laughing.
• 宝宝 哭 起来 了。The baby started crying.
• 两 个 大妈 吵 起来 了。Two middle-aged ladies started arguing.
• 天气 热 起来 了。It's starting to get hot.
• 他 的 病 好 起来了。His illness is starting to get better.

When used like this, 起来 is only used with spontaneous actions, like 唱, 跳, 讨论, or with states like 热，冷，or 好 etc. It cannot be used with planned actions.

• 我们 做饭 起来 吧。
• 我们 开始 做饭 吧。

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

• Boya Chinese Elementary Starter 2 (博雅汉语初经起步篇) (pp. 80) →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) →buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (pp. 141-2) →buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 1 (pp. 342-3) →buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 2 (pp. 20) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 3 (新实用汉语课本3) (pp. 169) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 5 (新实用汉语课本5) (pp. 134-5) →buy

Websites

• Yale: Extended meaning of some directional complements