Direction complement

Also known as: 趋向补语 (qūxiàng bǔyǔ), directional complement and complement of direction. A direction complement is a complement used to describe the direction of a verb. A verb already has some inherent movement implied; adding a direction complement clearly shows where exactly that action is going.

Contents

Simple Direction Complement

The most basic (and common) form of direction complement is formed by a verb and 来 or 去:

The most important thing to consider with direction complements is the position of the speaker. If the action moves towards the speaker or comes closer in any way, use 来. If the action moves away from the speaker or becomes more distant in any way, use 去.

• 下来 xiàlái The movement is down towards the speaker: "come down"
• 下 下去 xiàqù The movement is down away from the speaker: "go down"
• 上 上来 shànglái The movement is up towards the speaker: "come up"
• 上 上去 shàngqù The movement is up and away from the speaker: "go up"
• 出 出来 chūlái The movement is out and towards the speaker: "come out"
• 出 出去 chūqù The movement is out and away from the speaker: "go out"
• 进 进来 jìnlái The movement is in and towards the speaker: "come in"
• 进 进去 jìnqù The movement is in and away from the speaker: "go in"
• 回 回来 huílái The movement is towards the speaker: "come back"
• 回 回去 huíqù The movement is away from the speaker: "go back"
  

You might be wondering how the directional distinction between 来 and 去 works when you're talking about yourself moving. You can't move away from or towards yourself, so should it be 来 or 去? The answer is to look at the context of the movement you're talking about. Are you telling someone you'll see them tomorrow? Similar to English, in Chinese you'd say something like "I'll come and see you tomorrow."

Examples

You can use these simple compounds in a huge variety of situations. Here are some examples:

Adding a place with 到

Direction complements are very useful for talking about arriving at destinations. The structure for this is:

Notice that you separate the verb from its direction complement. The location goes in between the two.

A few examples:

Compound Direction Complements

Direction complements can be more complex than just 来 or 去. You can form compound direction complements in the following way:

Many Chinese learners say 回来中国 or 回去美国 but these are both wrong. The correct way to say this is 回中国来 or 回美国去, because 回 is the verb, 来 and 去 are the directional complement. In spoken language, if the context is clear, people often omit 来，去 and only say 回美国 or 回中国.

These compounds can then be used in the same way as 来 and 去. Attach them to verbs to give detail about the direction of the action.

Structure

Examples

Direction Complements with Objects

Direction complements are not only used to describe the movement of people. Moving objects can also be described with direction complements. Again, the direction of the movement relative to the speaker (or at least to the context of the conversation) is important when deciding what complement to use.

These verbs that commonly appear in this construction include 拿, 送, and 带.

Some examples:

Direction Complements with 把

Direction complements work very well in 把 sentences, as they can be used to describe the disposal of an object (what happened to it in the end). Because of this, it's very common to see direction complements and 把 appearing together.

Structure

Examples

See also:

Compared with Potential Complement

Adding 得 to directional complements makes the phrase an affirmative potential complement. Adding 不 makes the phrase a negative potential complement.

Direction and Potential Complements

Additional Meanings

A lot of direction complements, particularly compound direction complements, have additional idiomatic meanings beyond literally describing the direction of an action. The most common of these are:

See also

Sources and further reading

Books

Websites

• Mandarin Essential Grammar (Yale): Directional Complements
  

Videos