Result complements "-dao" and "-jian"

Two of the most common result complements in Chinese are 到 (dào) and 见 (jiàn). On this page we're only going to be talking about verbs related to the senses ("see," hear," etc.), and for this usage, the two are interchangeable.

Structure

Result complements are a huge topic in Chinese grammar, but you can approach them in stages. The structure you come across the most is a verb with 到 (dào):

Subject + Verb + 到 + Object

What 到 does is indicate that the outcome of the verb is achieved - what its result is. Without a result complement, the sentence would describe only the action itself. To illustrate, 看 "to look" is the action of turning one's head in a particular direction and focusing one's eyes, whereas 看到," to see," is the result of your brain taking in the visual input.

The complement 见 is very similar to 到, and it is used in the same way:

Subject + Verb + 见 + Object

However, there is a difference. 见 is generally only used after verbs involving sense, like 听 and 看, whereas 到 can be attached to a large variety of verbs (which we will discuss at a higher level on another page).

Examples

• 你 听 见 了 吗？Did you hear it?
• 你 听 到 了 吗？Did you hear it?
• 你 看 见 那 个 帅哥 了 吗？Did you see that handsome boy?
• 你 看 到 那 个 帅哥 了 吗？Did you see that handsome boy?
• 我 没 找 到 我 的 手机。I didn't find my cell phone.
• 我 回家 的 时候，闻 到了 美味 的 鸡汤! I could smell the delicious chicken soup when I went home.

As in the last sentence, this structure can be negated using 没.

See also

• "-wan" result complement
• Result complement "-qilai"
• Result complement "-cuo"

Sources and further reading

Books

• Short-term Spoken Chinese: Threshold Vol. 2 (汉语口语入门篇下) (pp. 92) →buy
• Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar (pp. 109) →buy
• 40 Lessons for Basic Chinese Course (基础汉语40课上册） (pp. 205-6)→buy