Difference between revisions of "Potential complements"

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* 汉字 他 写 <em>得</em> 好。
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* 汉字 他 写 <em>得</em> 好。<span class="trans">He writes Chinese characters well.</span>
* 汉字 我 写 <em>不</em> 好。
+
* 汉字 我 写 <em>不</em> 好。<span class="trans">I don't write Chinese characters well.</span>
* 中文 你 说 <em>得</em> 很 好听。
+
* 中文 你 说 <em>得</em> 很 好听。<span class="trans">You speak Chinese very well.</span>
  
  

Revision as of 07:26, 4 June 2013

Structure

Potential complements can be positive or negative. What this means is fairly intuitive - potential complements can be used to express that something can happen or that it can't.

Verb + 得 / 不 + [complement]

Here [complement] is the second part of the potential complement after 得 (positive) or 不 (negative). So if the verb can be adjective, 得 is used. If the verb can not be adjective, 不 is used.

Examples

  • 汉字 他 写 好。He writes Chinese characters well.
  • 汉字 我 写 好。I don't write Chinese characters well.
  • 中文 你 说 很 好听。You speak Chinese very well.


Note that the potential complement and degree complement can often appear to be the same; the difference can usually be seen from context.

See also

Sources and and further reading

Books

Websites

Yale

HSK4