II. Compound directional complements

A. What is the compound directional complement?

When the combination of a verb of motion and lái 来 or qù 去 (see Table 2.) is suffixed to a verb to show the direction of the movement, it is called the compound directional complement. Compound directional complements are used in the same way as simple directional complements.

Table 2. Compound Directional Complements
Verb +	Compound directional complements
Verbs that indicate moving or transporting objects, such as bān 搬 (to move), ná 拿 (to take or bring), or sòng 送 (to deliver, carry or escort), and body movements, such as zǒu 走 (to walk) or pǎo 跑 (to run) frequently take compound directional complements.	shànglai 上来 come up	xiàlai 下来 come down	jìnlai 进来 come in(to)	chūlai 出来 come out	huílai 回来 come back	guòlai 过来 come over	qǐlai 起来 get up	dào ... lái 到 ... 来 come to
	shàngqu 上去 go up	xiàqu 下去 go down	jìnqu 进去 go in(to)	chūqu 出去 go out	huíqu 回去 go back	guòqu 过去 go over	N./A.	dào ... qù 到 ... 去 go to

The examples below show how verbs take compound directional complements:

Wǒ jiā mǎi-le yì suǒ xīn fángzi, kěshì wǒmen hái méiyǒu bānjìnqu.
我家买了一所新房子，可是我们还没有搬进去。
My family bought a new house, but we have not moved in yet.

Tā ná chūlai yì běn shū.
他拿出来一本书。
He took out a book.

Qǐng nǐ zǒu guòqu kàn kàn nà shì shénme dōngxi.
请你走过去看看那是什么东西。
Please go over there to see what it is.

Tā pǎo guòlai bāng wǒ ná xíngli.
他跑过来帮我拿行李。
He ran over to me to help me carry the luggage.

Zuótiān Xiǎo Lǐ mǎi huílai yì tái diànshì.
昨天小李买回来一台电视。
Yesterday Young Li bought a TV set and brought it back with him.