Kilo Lingo

Ch 10 · Lesson 11

Resultative complements

Prescribed by the AQA specification.

The short version

The (le) goes after the result, not inside it

。Wǒ chīwán le.

I've finished eating.
Why?

(kànjiàn), (chīwán) and (zhǎodào) fuse into single units, so treat verb-plus-result as one longer verb: (wǒ chīwán le), never (wǒ chī le wán). Negate the whole unit with (méi) and the (le) drops: (wǒ méi kànjiàn tā). (bù) negates willingness and habit, which is not what a failed outcome is.

(kàn) is look; (kànjiàn) is see

。Wǒ zhōngyú zhǎodào gōngzuò le.

I've finally found a job.
Why?

Many Mandarin verbs only say what you tried. A result word after the verb says it worked: (zhǎo) is look for, (zhǎodào) is find; (tīng) is listen, (tīngdǒng) is understand; (chī) is eat, (chīwán) is finish eating. English often swaps the verb where Mandarin adds the result.

(méi kànjiàn) didn't; (kàn bu jiàn) can't

。Wǒ méi tīngdǒng.

I didn't understand.
Why?

(méi) in front of the pair says the result did not happen: (wǒ méi kànjiàn tā), I didn't see him. (bu) between the verb and its result says it cannot happen: (wǒ kàn bu jiàn tā), I can't see him, he is too far away.

That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.

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Practice

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10-question session

One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end. There are 20 in all: practise more afterwards if you want them.

Lesson 11 of 16 in this chapter

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