Result complements "-dao" and "-jian"

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, 想 "to think" is the action of thinking, whereas 想到 "to think (of something)" is a the result of that process.

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

Subject + Verb + 见 + Object

However, 见 is generally only used after verbs involving sense, like 听 and 看, whereas 到 can be attached to a large variety of verbs.

Examples

• 听 到 了 吗？
• 你 看 见 那 个 人 了 吗？
• 我 买 到 了 一 些 水果。
• 小 时候 没 学过 乐器, 我 感到 很 遗憾。
• 你 的 手机 号码 里 怎么 有 那么 多 个 八？没 想 到 你 那么 迷信!

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

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