Lesson 9: Compound directional complements

The directional verbs 上, 下, 进, 出, 回, 过, 起 combined with 来 or 去 serve as complements after a verb.

Hanyu textbook · Hanyu 3 · Lesson 9

他跑进来了。

Tā pǎo jìnlai le.

He ran in.

Explanation

The directional verbs “上、下、进、出、回、过、起” plus “来” or “去” and used after another verb as a complement are called compound directional complements, and show the direction of the action.

Commonly used compound directional complements — with 来: 上来, 下来, 进来, 出来, 回来, 过来, 起来; with 去: 上去, 下去, 进去, 出去, 回去, 过去 (the textbook's table has no 起去).

The relationship between the direction expressed by “来” and “去” and the speaker or the thing referred to is the same as with simple directional complements: toward the speaker uses 来, the opposite direction uses 去.

Structure

1
动词上/下/进/出/回/过/起来
Includes 上来, 下来, 进来, 出来, 回来, 过来, 起来.
- 我走上来的。
  Wǒ zǒu shànglai de.
  I walked up here.
- 他跑进来了。
  Tā pǎo jìnlai le.
  He ran in.
- 这本书买回来了。
  Zhè běn shū mǎi huílai le.
  This book has been bought and brought back.
- 蝴蝶飞起来了。
  Húdié fēi qǐlai le.
  The butterfly flew up.
- 他跳下来了。
  Tā tiào xiàlai le.
  He jumped down.
2
动词上/下/进/出/回/过去
Includes 上去, 下去, 进去, 出去, 回去, 过去 (the textbook's table has no 起去).
- 他跑出去了。
  Tā pǎo chūqu le.
  He ran outside.
- 他跑下去了。
  Tā pǎo xiàqu le.
  He ran down.
- 他们走过来，我们走过去。
  Tāmen zǒu guòlai, wǒmen zǒu guòqu.
  They are coming over here, and we are going over there.
3
动词趋向动词来/去 (hướng 来/去 so với người nói)
The direction of 来/去 relative to the speaker or the thing referred to is the same as with simple directional complements.
- 我买回来一本书。
  Wǒ mǎi huílai yì běn shū.
  I bought a book and brought it back.
- 我们买的书和光盘正好都能放进去。
  Wǒmen mǎi de shū hé guāngpán zhènghǎo dōu néng fàng jìnqu.
  The books and discs we bought were just enough to fit everything in.
- 她走出学校去了。
  Tā zǒu chū xuéxiào qù le.
  She has walked out of the school.
- 他跑回家来了。
  Tā pǎo huí jiā lái le.
  He ran home.

Usage notes

The textbook's table of compound directional complements has 起来 but not 起去.
Toward the speaker/the thing talked about uses 来; the opposite direction uses 去 — decided by the speaker's position (for example: if the speaker is on the mountain, use 爬上来; if at the foot of the mountain, use 爬上去).

Common mistakes

~~孩子看见我，就向我跑过去~~
孩子看见我，就向我跑过来
running toward the speaker
~~他从箱子里拿出去一些光盘~~
他从箱子里拿出来一些影碟

Practice

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