Lessons 25 and 28: Complement of state

Add 得 after a verb to describe or evaluate the result, degree or state of an action.

Hanyu textbook · Hanyu 2 · Lesson 25 · Hanyu 2 · Lesson 28

她汉语说得很好。

Tā Hànyǔ shuō de hěn hǎo.

She speaks Chinese very well.

Explanation

The complement of state is a complement connected to the verb with 得. It is made up of an adjective or an adjective phrase, and normally 很 is added before the adjective. Its main function is to describe, judge or evaluate a result, a degree, a state, and so on; the action, behavior or state it describes and evaluates is habitual, or has happened or is happening.

Affirmative form: verb + 得 + (很) + adjective. Negative form: verb + 得 + 不 + adjective. Affirmative-negative question: verb + 得 + adjective + 不 + adjective.

Note: when the verb has an object, the sentence with a complement of state has this structure: verb + object + verb + 得 + (很) + adjective. In actual conversation, the first verb is often left out, so the sentence becomes a subject-predicate predicate sentence.

打得还可以 (plays so-so, not bad)

还 indicates a passable degree, is usually used before an adjective, and implies speaking in the direction of "getting better".

Structure

1
Vverb得很optionalhình dung từ
Affirmative form.
- 我每天起得很早。
  Wǒ měitiān qǐ de hěn zǎo.
  I get up very early every day.
- 她太极拳打得很不错。
  Tā tàijíquán dǎ de hěn búcuò.
  She does Tai Chi quite well.
- 他喝啤酒喝得很多。
  Tā hē píjiǔ hē de hěn duō.
  He drinks a lot of beer.
2
Vverb得不hình dung từ
Negative form.
- 我星期天起得不早。
  Wǒ xīngqītiān qǐ de bù zǎo.
  I don't get up early on Sundays.
- 我汉语说得不好。
  Wǒ Hànyǔ shuō de bù hǎo.
  I don't speak Chinese well.
- 他汉字写得不好。
  Tā Hànzì xiě de bù hǎo.
  He doesn't write Chinese characters beautifully.
3
Vverb得A不A？
Affirmative-negative question.
- 你今天起得早不早？
  Nǐ jīntiān qǐ de zǎo bu zǎo?
  Do you get up early today?
- 她汉语说得好不好？
  Tā Hànyǔ shuō de hǎo bu hǎo?
  Does she speak Chinese well?
- 他汉字写得好不好？
  Tā Hànzì xiě de hǎo bu hǎo?
  Does he write Chinese characters beautifully?
4
VverbOobjectVverb得很optionalhình dung từ
When the verb has an object, the verb must be repeated; in actual speech the first verb is often dropped, and the sentence becomes a subject-predicate predicate sentence.
- 他打太极拳打得很好。
  Tā dǎ tàijíquán dǎ de hěn hǎo.
  He does Tai Chi very well.
- 他太极拳打得很好。
  Tā tàijíquán dǎ de hěn hǎo.
  As for Tai Chi, he does it very well.
- 她说汉语说得很好。
  Tā shuō Hànyǔ shuō de hěn hǎo.
  She speaks Chinese very well.
- 她汉语说得很流利。
  Tā Hànyǔ shuō de hěn liúlì.
  She speaks Chinese very fluently.
5
Vverb得还可以 / 怎么样
还 indicates a passable degree, is usually used before an adjective, and implies speaking in the direction of "getting better".
- 你看她太极拳打得怎么样？
  Nǐ kàn tā tàijíquán dǎ de zěnmeyàng?
  How do you think she does Tai Chi?
- 打得还可以。
  Dǎ de hái kěyǐ.
  She does it okay (not bad).

Usage notes

A complement of state usually needs 很 before the adjective; the negative uses 不 (得 + 不 + adjective).
哪里 (Lesson 25) is a polite, modest reply to a compliment; you can also say 哪里, 哪里.

Common mistakes

When the verb has an object, the verb must be repeated (说汉语说得…, 起床起得…); don't say *跑步得非常快, *每天起床得很早.

Practice

29 questions in 3 sets. One at a time, checked instantly, with explanations.

Start practice