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 + 起来

Examples

  • 请 把13 和 15 起来Please add 13 and 15 together.
  • 宝宝,你 应该 把 你 的 玩具 起来Darling, you should put your toys away.
  • 怎么 才 能 让 她 高兴 起来Anything to make her be happy.

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 + 起来 + 了

Examples

  • 大家 笑 起来 了。
  • 两 个 大妈 吵 起来 了。
  • 今天 天气 热 起来 了。
  • 他 的 病 好起来了。

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

Sources and further reading

Books

Websites