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  <p>Potential Verb Complements</p>
  <p>A potential verb complement is used to describe the capability
  of carrying out an action, such</p>
  <p>as being capable of speaking Chinese or being capable of
  finishing one‟s homework. A</p>
  <p>potential complement is formed from the following three
  elements.</p>
  <p>1. an action verb</p>
  <p>2. 得 de (for affirmative) or 不 bu (for negative)</p>
  <p>3.</p>
  <p>a resultative (apart from 在, 给 and 错) or directional
  complement.</p>
  <p>For examples</p>
  <p>看 得 见 走 不 进 教室</p>
  <p>去</p>
  <p>kàn de jiàn zǒu bu jìn jiàoshì qù</p>
  <p>To be able to see To be unable to walk into the classroom</p>
  <p>The following examples demonstrate how potential verb
  complements are used in colloquial</p>
  <p>Chinese. If you can‟t hear someone, you might say to him or
  her:</p>
  <p>我 听 不 见</p>
  <p>你 说</p>
  <p>的 话。</p>
  <p>wǒ tīng bu jiàn nǐ shuō de huà</p>
  <p>I can’t hear what you are saying.</p>
  <p>If the door of the classroom is locked, you might say to your
  teacher:</p>
  <p>教 室 门 关</p>
  <p>着,我 们 走 不 进 去。</p>
  <p>jiàoshì mén guān zhe wǒmen zǒu bu jìn qù</p>
  <p>The classroom door is closed and we can’t get in.</p>
  <p>79Elementary Chinese Grammar 基础汉语语法</p>
  <p>2011</p>
  <p>If you have too much homework for the day, you might say to
  your teacher:</p>
  <p>今 天 的 练 习太 多 了,我 们 作 不 完。</p>
  <p>Jīntiānde liànxí tài duō le wǒmen zuòbu wán</p>
  <p>There are too many exercises and we can’t finish them
  today.</p>
  <p>The following list consists of those commonly used potential
  verb complements which have</p>
  <p>not devolved from resultative and directional verb
  complements.</p>
  <p>Verbs</p>
  <p>吃 chī to eat</p>
  <p>Potential</p>
  <p>complements</p>
  <p>得/不了 to be</p>
  <p>able/unable to</p>
  <p>走 zǒu to walk</p>
  <p>跑 pǎo to run</p>
  <p>住 zhù to live,</p>
  <p>to stay</p>
  <p>照 zhào to take</p>
  <p>(a photo)</p>
  <p>件 事。</p>
  <p>He can’t deal with this matter on his own.</p>
  <p>得/不动 to be</p>
  <p>able/unable to</p>
  <p>move</p>
  <p>东 西 不 多,我 拿 得 动。</p>
  <p>dōngxi bu duō, wǒ ná de dòng</p>
  <p>There isn’t so much stuff; I can take it (on my own).</p>
  <p>得/不下 to</p>
  <p>have/don’t</p>
  <p>have room for</p>
  <p>坐 zuò to sit, to</p>
  <p>seat</p>
  <p>站 zhàn to</p>
  <p>stand</p>
  <p>放 fàng to put</p>
  <p>他一个人 作 不 了 这</p>
  <p>tā yí ge rén zuò bu liǎo zhè jiàn shì</p>
  <p>说 shuō to</p>
  <p>speak,</p>
  <p>写 xiě to write</p>
  <p>作 zuò to do, to</p>
  <p>cook</p>
  <p>拿 ná to take</p>
  <p>Examples</p>
  <p>这 间 房</p>
  <p>住 得 下几 个 人?</p>
  <p>zhè jiān fang zhù de xià jǐ ge rén</p>
  <p>How many people can this room accommodate?</p>
  <p>得/不上</p>
  <p>can/cannot be</p>
  <p>fitted on/in</p>
  <p>后 边</p>
  <p>的 房</p>
  <p>子 照</p>
  <p>得 上</p>
  <p>吗?</p>
  <p>hòu biān de fángzi zhào de shàng ma</p>
  <p>Can the house in the background be fitted into the</p>
  <p>photo?</p>
  <p>80Elementary Chinese Grammar 基础汉语语法</p>
  <p>买 mǎi to buy</p>
  <p>吃 chī to eat</p>
  <p>得/不起</p>
  <p>can/cannot</p>
  <p>afford</p>
  <p>2011</p>
  <p>我 买 不 起 这儿 的 房 子。</p>
  <p>wǒ mǎi bù qǐ zhèr de fángzi</p>
  <p>I can’t afford to buy the houses round here.</p>
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