Verb-complement construction

Chinese does not have a grammatical system to express tense as many Indo-European languages; however, it has a complicated complement system to describe the status of the action expressed by the verb in a sentence. Compare the following example.

(6.10) “I have finished (eating) dinner.”

(6.11) a. 我吃完晚饭了。

wŏ chī-wán wănfàn le.

“I have finished eating dinner.”

b. *我完晚饭了。

wŏ wán wănfàn le.

Notice that “finish dinner” in English implies “finish eating dinner” in (6.10);

but wán wănfàn “finish dinner” in Chinese does not make sense to Chinese people so they have to say chī wán wănfàn “eat finish dinner” to indicate that the status of the action “eat” is completed, as shown in (6.11). Similarly, when asked about the status of any other action, such as 看 kàn “look/read” or 听 tīng “listen”, one can use different words (underlined) to express status of the action (bold-faced), as illustrated in (6.12)–(6.13).

(6.12) a. 你看，就是那个人！

nĭ kàn, jiùshì nà ge rén.

“(You) look, (it) is that person!”

b. 我看见了。是他呀。

wŏ kànjiàn le. shì tā ya.

“I see (him). Oh, (it) is him.”

(6.13) a. 你们听懂我说的话吗？

nĭmen tīngdŏng wŏ shuōde huà ma?

“Did you hear and understand what I said?”

b. 我听不清楚。

wŏ tīng bù qīngchu.

“I listen (but) not clear.” (Or “I heard but not clearly.”)

c. 我听不见。

wŏ tīng bú jiàn.

“I listen (but) not perceive (it).” (Or “I heard but I did not get it.”)

d. 我听懂了。

wŏ tīng dŏng le.

“I understand.”

In (6.12a), the central idea is to invite the listener to conduct the action

“look” or “see”. Not surprisingly, the listener responds with an appropriate complement in (6.12b) indicating the result (i.e. the status) of pursuing that action

“look” with the word 见 jiàn “perceive something either visually or audibly”.

Thus, the verb + complement (kàn “see/look” + jiàn “perceive”) expresses the meaning of “saw”. Since any action expressed by a verb may hold different statuses, the same verb can carry different complements as shown in (6.13). When a teacher asks students if they “listened” and understood what s/he said as in (6.13a), one student (6.13b) says s/he “listened” but it was “not clear”. Another student (6.13c) also said s/he “listened”, but “could not hear”. The third student (6.13d) gave a different answer — s/he “listened” and “understood” what the teacher said. Clearly, the “verb + complement” construction does not have an equivalent in English. We have to translate the verb-comment structure into either English sentences as (6.13a)–(6.13c) or one sentence that can combine the meaning of both the verb and complement in the original Chinese sentence as (6.13d).

Hence, the primary function of the verb + complement arises when an action expressed by the verb needs to be explained or commented on. Since different actions may be explained and commented on differently, one type of verb may only be used with a certain type of complement. For instance, action verbs may be complemented by another action verb as those given in (6.14) or stative verbs as those in (6.15). However, stative verbs can only be complemented by degree adverbs as those in (6.16).

(6.14) 打破 dă-pò hit + break “break”

跑掉 păo-diào run + away “run away”

找到 zhăo-dào look for + get “find”

出去 chū-qù exit + go “go out”

进来 jìn-lái enter + come “enter (to the speaker)”

进去 jìn-qù enter + to “enter (away from the speaker)”

(6.15) 哭累 kū-lèi cry + tired “cry until (you’re) tired”

睡多 shuì-duō sleep + lot “oversleep”

写好 xiĕ-hăo write + good “finish writing”

拿下 ná-xià take + down “take down”

看错 kàn-cuò look + wrong “incorrectly identify”

(6.16) 好多了 hăo-duōle good + lot + asp. “very good”

漂亮极了 piàoliang- jíle beautiful + extreme + asp. “extremely beautiful”

冷怕了 lĕng-pàle cold + afraid + asp. “afraid of cold”

吓坏了 xià-huàile scare + bad + asp. “badly scared”

累死了 lèi-sĭle tired + dead + asp. “dead tired”

When teaching the verb-complement construction, the traditional method often categorizes complements into various types: resultative complements, directional complements, descriptive complements, potential complements, etc.

Such a categorization may help students who have a good linguistic understanding of those terms learn complements. However, for most students learning Chinese as FL, it does not seem necessary to spend time learning the terms and distinguishing different types of complements. What they should concentrate on, instead, is the function of complements, that is, when they are used and what they are used for in discourse. Once students understand the fundamental reasons for using complements in Chinese and practice them accordingly, they should be able to acquire the construction.

Teachers may create various types of classroom activities to induce students to use the verb-complement constructions. For instance, students may be provided with different types of verbs and then be asked to come up with complements to further explain or comment on the verbs, as demonstrated in (6.17):

(6.17) a: 你们会说“听”什么？

nĭmen huì shuō “tīng” shénme?

“What would you use with ‘listening’?”

b: 我们可以说“听见”、“听到”，“听懂”…

wŏmen kĕyĭ shuō “tīng-jiàn”, “tīng-dào”, “tīng-dŏng” …

“We may say ‘listen-perceive’, ‘listen-receive’, ‘listen-understand’ …”

说shuō “speak” 说完 shuōwán “finish speaking”

说出 shuōchū “say something out”

说到shuōdào “talk about”

读dú “read” 读完dúwán “finish reading

读到 dúdào “read to (a certain place)”

读出dúchū “read out”

看kàn “see” 看出kànchū “see and realize”

看见kànjiàn “see and identify”

看清楚kàn qīngchu “see something clearly”

写xiĕ “write” 写好xiĕhăo “finish writing”

写错xiĕcuò “write something wrong”

写对xiĕduì “write something correctly”

用yòng “use” 用过yòngguò “have experience of using something”

用光yòngguāng “use up something”

用惯yòngguàn “use something and get used to it”

走 zŏu “walk” 走开zŏukāi “walk away”

走到zŏudào “walk to”

走出zŏuchū “walk out”

跑păo “run” 跑来păolái “run out of (a place)”

跑去păoqù “run to (away from the speaker)”

跑出păochū “run out”

放fàng “place” 放下 fàngxià “place something (at a place)”

放到fàngdào “place something in (a place)”

放好fànghăo “place something in order”

想xiăng “think” 想得好 xiăngde hăo “think positively”

想得美 xiăngde mĕi “think beautiful things”

想得开xiăngde kāi “think and open up one’s mind”

跑 păo “run” 跑得快păode kuài “run fast”

跑得慢 păode màn “run slowly”

跑得难受 păode nánshòu “run until (your feel) uncomfortable”

吃chī “eat” 吃得好chīde hăo “eat well”

吃得饱 chīde băo “eat and become full”

吃得舒服chīde shūfu “eat and feel good”

高兴gāoxìng “happy” 高兴极了 gāoxìng jíle “extremely happy”

高兴坏了gāoxìng huàile “terribly happy”

高兴死了gāoxìng sĭle “extremely happy”

疼téng “painful” 疼极了téng jíle “extremely painful”

疼坏了téng huàile “very painful”

疼死了téng sĭle “dead painful”

Sufficient practice with verbs and their complements such as those given in (6.17) should enable students to understand the types of complements that can or cannot comment on or describe certain types of verbs and the difference between different types of complements. Teachers should also point out the restriction of certain types of complements (e.g. what kind of complements cannot be used with helping verbs) and ask students to compare those complements with 得 (de

“complement marker”) and 极了 (jíle “extremely”) with those that do not have either 得 (de) and 极了 (jíle) and describe their functions in discourse. This way, it does not take long for students to realize the different function of the complements with or without 得 (de) and 极了 (jíle).