Chinese complements — result, direction, potential, and degree — are what separate flat sentences from natural ones. Here's how each type works.
One of the defining features of Chinese grammar that learners encounter at intermediate level is the complement system — a set of structures that follow verbs to specify results, potential, direction, degree, and duration. Complements are enormously productive in Chinese: they allow verbs to do far more expressive work than they can do alone, and mastering them is one of the most significant jumps from basic to natural-sounding Chinese.
English handles the information that Chinese complements carry through separate clauses, adverbs, or auxiliary constructions. "I can't understand" vs Chinese 听不懂 (listen + not + understand). "She ran in" vs Chinese 她跑进来 (she + run + in + come). "He ate until full" vs Chinese 他吃饱了 (he + eat + full + completion). The Chinese complement system packs this information into compact, elegant verb phrases.
A result complement is a verb or adjective placed directly after the main verb to express the result or outcome of the action. The complement answers the implicit question: what happened as a result of this action?
Common result complements and their meanings:
V + 完 (wán, finish/complete): 做完 (finish doing), 吃完 (finish eating), 看完 (finish watching), 写完 (finish writing). The most versatile result complement — attaches to virtually any action verb to indicate completion.
V + 好 (hǎo, well/good/ready): 做好 (do well / get done), 写好 (write well / finish writing), 准备好 (prepare well / be ready). Expresses that the action has been done satisfactorily or to completion.
V + 懂 (dǒng, understand): 听懂 (understand by listening), 看懂 (understand by reading/watching), 学懂 (learn until understood). Expresses comprehension achieved through the action.
V + 错 (cuò, wrong): 写错 (write wrongly), 说错 (say wrongly), 记错 (remember incorrectly). Expresses an action performed incorrectly.
V + 到 (dào, arrive/achieve): 找到 (find — search until arrive at), 买到 (successfully buy), 做到 (achieve/manage to do), 想到 (think of). Expresses successful arrival at a result.
V + 住 (zhù, hold/stay): 记住 (memorise — hold it in memory), 抓住 (catch and hold), 站住 (stand firm). Expresses fixedness or successful holding.
V + 坏 (huài, bad/broken): 吃坏 (eat until sick), 做坏 (do badly / break), 弄坏 (mess up / break). Expresses a negative result.
V + 饱 (bǎo, full/satiated): 吃饱 (eat until full). V + 累 (lèi, tired): 累死了 (tired to death — colloquial intensifier).
The negation of result complements uses 没有: 我没做完 (I haven't finished doing it). 她没找到 (She didn't find it). Note that 不 cannot negate completed result complements — it is used for potential complements instead (see below).
Potential complements are formed by inserting 得 (de, can/able) or 不 (bù, cannot) between a verb and its result/directional complement, expressing whether or not the result is achievable.
Structure: Verb + 得/不 + Result/Direction
听得懂 / 听不懂 — can understand / cannot understand (by hearing)
看得完 / 看不完 — can finish watching / cannot finish watching
做得到 / 做不到 — can achieve / cannot achieve
进得去 / 进不去 — can get in / cannot get in
起得来 / 起不来 — can get up / cannot get up
Potential complements are extraordinarily common in everyday Chinese. 听不懂 (I can't understand) is something you will both say and hear constantly as a learner. 来不及 (lái bu jí, can't make it in time — not enough time) is a fixed expression that learners need early. 忙不过来 (too busy to manage — literally busy but can't get through) is a common colloquial expression for being overwhelmed.
The question form uses 得 alone with a question particle, or the affirmative/negative pattern: 你做得完做不完？(Can you finish it or not?) The A-not-A question structure with potential complements is very natural in Chinese conversation.
Directional complements specify the direction of movement relative to the speaker or a reference point. The simple directional complements are formed with 来 (lái, toward speaker) and 去 (qù, away from speaker) after verbs of motion:
走来 / 走去 — walk toward / walk away
跑来 / 跑去 — run toward / run away
飞来 / 飞去 — fly toward / fly away
The compound directional complements add a directional verb before 来/去:
进来 / 进去 — come in / go in
出来 / 出去 — come out / go out
上来 / 上去 — come up / go up
下来 / 下去 — come down / go down
回来 / 回去 — come back / go back
过来 / 过去 — come over / go over
These compound directional complements are used both literally (走进来 — walk in toward speaker) and figuratively (想出来 — think up/devise, literally think out come; 想不出来 — can't think of anything). The figurative uses are very common and must be learned as semi-fixed expressions.
Object placement with directional complements follows specific rules: indefinite objects come after the entire complement (他走进来一个人 — someone walked in), definite objects come between the two parts of the complement (他把书带进教室来 — he brought the book into the classroom). In practice, the simpler pattern of object after complement is most common in everyday speech.
Degree complements express the extent or degree to which an action occurred or a state exists. The most common structure uses 得 (de) between a verb/adjective and a complement phrase:
他跑得很快 (He runs very fast — the running is to the degree of being very fast)
她唱得非常好 (She sings extremely well)
你说得对 (What you say is right / you said it correctly)
我高兴得跳起来 (I was so happy I jumped up — degree reached the point of jumping)
This 得 structure for degree complements is different from the 得/不 in potential complements — the degree 得 is followed by a descriptive phrase, while the potential 得/不 is followed by a result complement. The character is the same but the structure and meaning differ. Context and position make the distinction clear.
Duration complements express how long an action lasts. They follow the verb (often with 了 for completed duration or without for ongoing):
我学了三年中文 (I studied Chinese for three years)
他等了半个小时 (He waited for half an hour)
她每天睡八个小时 (She sleeps eight hours every day — ongoing habit, no 了)
When an action has an object, duration complements follow the object in simple cases, but with longer duration phrases, the pattern often repeats the verb: 我学中文学了三年 (I studied Chinese for three years — verb repeated). This repetition is natural and common for longer duration expressions.
Complements are best internalised through extensive exposure rather than rule-drilling alone. Rules tell you the structures; context shows you when and why each complement is chosen. The HSK 3 Lantern Festival story and HSK 4 Social Media Influencer story on Dumplingo use result and potential complements throughout — encountering them in natural narrative context builds intuition that pure grammar study alone cannot. The HSK 5 Tech Startup story and HSK 6 Bondi Beach story demonstrate complements in sophisticated prose where the choices are nuanced and expressive. The Grammar section provides the systematic framework for each complement type before you encounter them in stories.
See complements working in real sentences with native audio — every pattern in context on Dumplingo. Start reading →