[Learn intermediate Chinese with grammar] How Chinese complements work

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What are Chinese complements?

In Chinese, a complement is a word or phrase that comes after a verb or adjective and adds extra meaning. It can show the result, direction, possibility, or degree of an action or state.

Basic structure	Function
Verb / Adjective + Complement	adds result, direction, possibility, or degree

Complements are important because Chinese often puts information after the verb that English may express with another phrase or a different verb.

1. Result complements: what happened after the action

A result complement shows the result of an action. It tells whether something was finished, done well, reached, removed, opened, or done incorrectly.

Complement type	Basic idea
Result complement	what result the action creates

Chinese	English
資料整理好了。 ♬	The materials have been organized.
表格填完了。 ♬	The form has been filled out completely.

Here, 好 and 完 tell us the result of the action. Later articles will explain common result complements in more detail.

2. Direction complements: where the action moves

A direction complement shows movement direction. It can describe physical movement, or sometimes a more abstract direction of change.

Complement type	Basic idea
Direction complement	where the action moves

Chinese	English
請把箱子搬進來。 ♬	Please move the box inside.
他從樓上走下來。 ♬	He walked down from upstairs.

In these examples, 進來 and 下來 show direction. Direction complements will have their own article later.

3. Potential complements: whether the result is possible

A potential complement shows whether an action can or cannot reach a result. It often uses 得 ♬ or 不 ♬ between the verb and the result or direction.

Complement type	Basic idea
Potential complement	whether the result can happen

Chinese	English
這份報告看得懂。 ♬	This report is understandable.
這個檔案打不開。 ♬	This file cannot be opened.

Potential complements are not the same as simply using 可以 or 不能. They focus on whether the action can reach a result.

4. Degree complements: how much or how well

A degree complement describes the degree, quality, or extent of an action or state. It often uses 得 ♬ after the verb or adjective.

Complement type	Basic idea
Degree complement	how much, how well, or to what degree

Chinese	English
他說得很清楚。 ♬	He explains it very clearly.
會議室冷得讓人受不了。 ♬	The meeting room is so cold that people cannot stand it.

Degree complements are useful, but they can be tricky because 得 has different uses in Chinese. A later article will focus on this pattern.

5. Complements usually come after the verb

For English speakers, the hardest part is often word order. Chinese complements usually come after the verb or adjective, not before it.

Chinese	Structure	English
寫完 ♬	write + finish	finish writing
聽懂 ♬	listen + understand	understand by listening
拿出來 ♬	take + out + come	take out

The complement completes the meaning of the verb by showing result, direction, or degree.

6. Why complements matter

Without complements, a sentence may only say that an action happened. With complements, Chinese can show whether the action succeeded, finished, moved somewhere, or reached a certain degree.

Without complement	With complement
我修了系統。 ♬	我修好了系統。 ♬
他看了報告。 ♬	他看完了報告。 ♬

The version with a complement gives more information about the result. This is why complements are central to natural Chinese.

7. This article is only an overview

Chinese complements are a large topic. This article only gives a map of the system. The next articles will focus on each type separately: result complements, direction complements, potential complements, degree complements, and the difference between 得, 地, and 的.

Later topic	Main question
Result complements	What result did the action create?
Direction complements	Where did the action move?
Potential complements	Can the action reach the result?
Degree complements	To what degree did something happen?

Useful words and example sentences