Difference between revisions of "Potential complements"

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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''.
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#REDIRECT[[Potential complement]]
 
 
The structure is:
 
 
 
<div class="jiegou">
 
 
 
Verb + 得 / 不 + [complement]
 
 
 
</div>
 
 
 
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:
 
 
 
<div class="liju">
 
 
 
* 汉字 他 写 <em>得</em> 好。
 
* 汉字 我 写 <em>不</em> 好。
 
* 中文 你 说 <em>得</em> 很 好听。
 
* 我的 房间 这么 乱 - 我 干 <em>不</em> 干净。
 
 
 
</div>
 
 
 
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==
 
*[[Potential complement "bu xia"]]
 
*[[Potential complement "bu dong"]]
 
 
 
== Sources and and further reading ==
 
 
 
=== Websites ===
 
 
 
==== Yale ====
 
 
 
* [http://comet.cls.yale.edu/mandarin/content/potential/grammar/potential.htm The Potential Complement]
 
* [http://comet.cls.yale.edu/mandarin/content/degree/grammar/Degree-6.htm Potential Complement And Degree Complement In Contrast]
 
 
 
[[Category:B1 grammar points]]
 
[[Category:Potential complement]]
 

Latest revision as of 00:57, 11 August 2017