"Separable verbs" get their name from their ability to "separate" into two parts (a verb part and an object part), with other words in between. In fact, you could also simply call separable verbs "verb-object phrases."

What They Are

Purely from the "separable" aspect, Mandarin's separable verbs have a counterpart in English: phrasal verbs (also called two-word verbs). While the grammatical components of English's phrasal verbs are different, the "separable" quality works in a very similar way. Take the phrasal verb "check out" for example:

Do you see what happened there? The verb "check out" can split into two parts (a verb and a preposition), and other words can go in between those two parts. Separable verbs work much the same way in Chinese, except that the two parts are a verb and an object (a noun).

Let's look at a typical example in Chinese, using the verb 见面, meaning "to meet."

我们明天见面。 no separating Wǒmen míngtiān jiànmiàn.
我们昨天见了面。 separated, 了 inserted Wǒmen zuótiān jiàn le miàn.
我们见过面。separated, 过inserted Wǒmen jiàn guo miàn.

Below we will introduce separable verbs in more detail, provide more examples, and also offer more specific cases of where separable verbs can get tricky.

Why Use Them

If separable verbs are simply verb-object phrases, then why the special name? It's because there are some special features of Chinese verb-object phrases worth special attention, and the name "separable verbs" helps call attention to this. Mastering separable verbs can be a little tricky, and is an essential objective of the intermediate (B1) level learner of Chinese.

Separable verbs are just one of those things you can't avoid. Many extremely common verbs, such as "to sleep" (睡觉) or "to meet" (见面) are separable verbs, and until you understand which verbs are separable verbs and how they work, you'll forever be making mistakes with these verbs, even in very basic sentences.

How to Use Them

First, you need to understand the structure of separable verbs. Most separable verbs are a "Verb + Object" (the object is a noun) construct. One might wonder, then, why there needs to be a separate category called "separable verbs" instead of just thinking of them as a verb and an object. There are several reasons to think of them as special verbs:

The key to using separable verbs correctly is to remember that they are "Verb + Object" constructs. The verb alone must be treated as a verb, and the object cannot be treated as a verb. It's from this essential relationship that the following principles flow:

Common Examples

我想跟你见面。 Wǒ xiǎng gēn nǐ jiànmiàn. the prepositional phrase, literally "with you," comes before the verb
我想见面你。 Wǒ xiǎng jiànmiàn nǐ. 你 is an extra object; 面 is already the object

我们都可以帮忙。 Wǒmen dōu kěyǐ bāngmáng.
All of us can help you with this.
我们都可以帮忙你。 Wǒmen dōu kěyǐ bāngmáng nǐ. 你 is an extra object; 忙, which means "a favor", is already the object

我想跟她结婚。 Wǒ xiǎng gēn tā jiéhūn. the prepositional phrase, literally "with her," comes before the verb
我想结婚她。 Wǒ xiǎng jiéhūn tā. 她 is an extra object; 婚 is already the object

他不喜欢聊他的工作。 Tā bù xǐhuan liáo tā de gōngzuò.
He doesn't like to talk about his work.
他不喜欢跟我聊天他的工作。 Tā bù xǐhuan liátiān tā de gōngzuò. 天 is an extra object; 他的工作 is already the object.

他下个月离职。 Tā xià gè yuè lízhí.
He will leave his job next month.
他下个月离职他的工作。 Tā xià gè yuè lízhí tā de gōngzuò. 他的工作 is an extra object; 职, which means "job," is already the object

Used with 了, 着, 过

见了面 jiàn le miàn
见过面 jiàn guo miàn

结了婚 jié le hūn
结过婚 jié guo hūn

开了会 kāi le huì
开过会 kāi guo huì
开着会 kāi zhe huì

吃了饭 chī le fàn
吃过饭 chī guo fàn
吃着饭 chī zhe fàn

Note: unlike the particles 过 and 着, the particle 了 is especially tricky, and it can also appear after the object. So it can be correct in multiple places.

Used with Measure Words

见个面吧。 Jiàn gè miàn
Let's meet.
我们见过三次面 Wǒmen jiàn guo sān cì miàn
We've met three times.

什么时候有空，出来吃个饭吧。 Shénme shíhou yǒu kòng, chūlái chī gè fànba.
When you're available, let's go out for dinner.
老板请大家吃了一顿饭 Lǎobǎn qǐng dàjiā chī le yī dùn fàn.
The boss invited everyone to dinner.

希望你今晚睡个好觉。 Xīwàng nǐ jīnwǎn shuì gè hǎo jiào.
I hope you can have some good sleep tonight.
昨晚我只睡了一个小时觉。 Zuówǎn wǒ zhǐ shuì le yī gè xiǎoshí jiào.
I only slept one hour last night.

他爷爷结过三次婚。 Tā yéye jié guo sān cì hūn.
His grandpa got married three times.

How to Reduplicate

Reduplication is a way to express the casual nature of a verb, or that it happens only briefly. When it comes to separable verbs, only the verb part reduplicates.

见见面 jiàn jiàn miàn the proper reduplication repeats only the verb 见)
见面见面 jiànmiàn jiànmiàn

吃吃饭 chī chī fàn the proper reduplication repeats only the verb 吃)
吃饭吃饭 chīfàn chīfàn 饭 is the object; it should not be repeated.)

散散步 sàn sàn bù the proper reduplication repeats only the verb 散)
散步散步 sàn bù sànbù 步 is the object; it should not be repeated.)

Note that separable verbs can't be used with 一下 to express it happens briefly.

见面一下 jiànmiàn yīxià

散步一下 sànbù yīxià

Common examples

Perhaps the most common examples of separable verbs that beginners struggle with are 见面 and 睡觉. For a more complete list, see the list of separable verbs.

Academic debate

There is some debate as to how useful the concept of separable verbs really is. For our purposes, we're only concerned with whether or not separable verbs are a useful concept for the student of Mandarin Chinese. Many learners do, in fact, find the concept to be quite useful in helping them speak more natural Chinese.

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