lesson 7

Lesson 7: Descriptive Complement
last revised January 9, 2004

他來得晚 He came/comes late.

Basic Rules: The descriptive complement always comes after the verb and tells how well or to what degree the action was done. The verb must be an action verb, not a state of being verb such as 有,在, etc. If there is an object, the object must be moved to a position before the verb. For this pattern, the action is usually either habitual or in the past. To make a negative statement, put 不 after 得, not before the verb. To make an affirmative-negative question, perform that operation on the adjective in the complement.

No object: N-V-Complement
N-V-`得`-Adv-Adj	`他來得很晚。`	He came/comes late.
N-V-`得-不`-Adj	`她唱得不好。`	She sang/sings poorly.
N-V-`得`-Adj-Particle N-V-`得`-Adj`-不`-Adj N-V-`得`-QW	`你學得好嗎?` `你學得好不好?` `你學得怎麼樣?`	Did/do you study well? How did/do you study?

For sentences with an object there are three possible patterns. They are interchangeable, but the emphasis is slightly different. If the sentence has a Verb-Object Verb, the two characters in the verb are treated as if they were two separate words, a verb and an object. The first table below is the most common pattern, especially with V-O verbs. The second table shows a pattern that places emphasis on the object, and can be used for comparing or contrasting two different objects. The third table shows the pattern usually used when the object is a long noun phrase.

With object (especially for Verb-Object Verbs): N-V-Obj-V-Complement
N-V-Obj-V-`得`-Adv-Adj	`他做飯做得很好。` `她說中文說得很好` `她說中文也說得很好。`	He cooked/cooks very well. She spoke/speaks Chinese very well. She also spoke/speaks Chinese very well. (note that the `也` is most often placed before the second verb)
N-V-Obj-V-`得`-`不`-Adj	`她寫漢字寫得不太快。`	She didn't/doesn't write Chinese characters very quickly.
N-V-Obj-V-`得`-Adj-Particle	`你問問題問得很多嗎?` `他說話說得快嗎?`	Did/do you ask a lot of questions? Did/does he talk fast?
N-V-Obj-V-`得`-Adj-`不`-Adj	`你睡覺睡得早不早?` `他教書教得好不好?`	Did/do you go to bed early? Did/does he teach well?
N-V-Obj-V-`得`-QW	`你跳舞跳得怎麼樣?` `他念課文念得怎麼樣?`	How well did/do you dance? How did/does he read the lesson out loud?

Emphasis on the object: N-Obj-V-Complement
N-Obj-V-`得`-Adv-Adj	`他中文書看得很多` `。` `他中文說得很好, 但是英文說得不好。`	He read/reads a lot of Chinese books. He speak Chinese well, but doesn't speak English very well.
N-Obj-V-`得`-`不`-Adj	`他中文說得不好。`	He does/didn't speak Chinese very well.
N-Obj-V-`得`-Adj-Particle	`他中文說得好嗎?`	Does/did he speak Chinese well?
N-Obj-V-`得`-Adj-`不`-Adj	`他中文說得好不好?`	Does/did he speak Chinese well?
N-Obj-V-`得`-QW	`他中文說得怎麼樣?`	How did/does he speak Chinese?

Preposed object, especially when the object is long: Obj-N-V-Complement
Obj-N-V-`得`-Adv-Adj	`那個漢字他寫得很漂亮。` `老師教我們的那個歌他唱得很好。`	He wrote/writes that Chinese character beautifully. He sang/sings that song that the teacher taught us very well. (That song that the teacher taught us, he sings it very well.)
Obj-N-V-`得`-`不`-Adj	`那個漢字他寫得不好。`	He didn't/doesn't write that Chinese character well.
Obj-N-V-`得`-Adj-Particle	`那個漢字他寫得好嗎?`	Did/does he write that Chinese character well?
Obj-N-V-`得`-Adj-`不`-Adj	`那個漢字他寫得好不好?`	Did/does he write that Chinese character well?
Obj-N-V-`得`-QW	`那個漢字他寫得怎麼樣?`	How well did/does he write that Chinese character?


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This page created by Mary Jacob

Lesson 7: Descriptive Complement last revised January 9, 2004

Lesson 7: Descriptive Complement
last revised January 9, 2004