Difference between revisions of "Potential complements"

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[[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''.
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[[Potential complement]]s 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''.
  
 
The structure is:
 
The structure is:

Revision as of 08:31, 26 August 2011

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.

The structure is:

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.

Some examples:

  • 汉字 他 写 好。
  • 汉字 我 写 好。
  • 中文 你 说 好听。
  • 我的 房间 这么 乱 - 我 干 干净。

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

Sources and and further reading

Websites

Yale