Advanced uses of direction complement "-qilai"

Revision as of 06:35, 25 November 2011 by Jonathan.pope (talk | contribs)

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 recollection

It can also be used figuratively to express remembering something that was forgotten, and is almost like the speaker pulling up memories from their mind.

  • 想 起来 了!我们 是 去年 在 北京 开会 的 时候 见面 的!

Expressing initiation of an action

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

  • 大家 笑 起来
  • 两 个 大妈 吵 起来
  • 今天 天气 热 起来
  • 他的病 好起来了

So 笑起来 is the same as 开始笑. 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.

For example

  • 我们 做饭 起来 吧。
  • 我们 开始 做饭 吧。

See also

Sources and further reading

Websites

Books