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Verb complements in Chinese

Verb complements in Chinese

Many Chinese verbs don’t have an end result. We say ‘看’ to look, ‘吃’ to eat, ‘听’ to listen, etcetera. But how do we express the results of the verbs in Mandarin Chinese? Let’s have a look at verb complements in Chinese.

Resulting Complements

With resulting compliments we mean the resulting of a performance, an action or a task. There are two structures:

V. + result

Such as ‘verb + 完 (wán) / 好(hǎo) / 懂(dǒng) / 对(duì) / 错(cuò)

The second is V. 到(dào)

2吃到(chī dào:ate), 喝到(hē dào:drank),  看到(kàn dào:saw), 听到(tīng dào:heard), 找到(zhǎo dào:found), 买到(mǎi dào:bought).

Example sentences

  • 老板让你写的报告，你写完了没有？
  • Lǎobǎn ràng nǐ xiě de bàogào, nǐ xiě wánle méiyǒu?
  • Have you finished the report the boss asked you to write?

 

  • 你吃好了吗？吃好了我们就可以走了。
  • Nǐ chī hǎole ma? Chī hǎole wǒmen jiù kěyǐ zǒule.
  • Have you eaten well? After eating, we can go.

 

  • 上课的时候，你听懂了吗？
  • Shàngkè de shíhou, nǐ tīng dǒngle ma?
  • Did you understand during class?

 

  • 这道题太难了，我没做对。
  • Zhè dào tí tài nánle, wǒ méi zuò duì.
  • This question is too difficult, I didn’t get it right.

 

  • 这个字不是“大”，是“太”，你看错了。
  • Zhège zì bùshì “dà”, shì “tài”, nǐ kàn cuòle.
  • This word is not “big”, it is “too”, you read it wrong.

 

  • 你看到我的汉语书了吗？我找不到了。
  • Nǐ kàn dào wǒ de hànyǔ shūle ma? Wǒ zhǎo bú dàole.
  • Have you seen my Chinese book? I can’t find it.

 

  • 妈妈让你帮她找手机，你听到了没有？
  • Māmā ràng nǐ bāng tā zhǎo shǒujī, nǐ tīng dàole méiyǒu?
  • Mom asked you to help her find her phone, did you hear that?)

 

  • 我买到iPhone12 了!
  • Wǒ mǎi dào iPhone12 le!
  • I bought an iPhone12!

Verb complements in Chinese is an important grammar point of HSK2. Read about more beginning tips for Chinese learners here.

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