The得Construction.doc

The 得 Construction Other terminology: complement marker, complement of degree Including notes on differences between the 得 construction and affirmative potential verb complements (v + 得 + resultative complement). 1. When do I use the 得 construction? The 得 construction can be used in the following three situations. (1) When you want to describe customary actions. In other words, when you want to say how somebody usually does something. For instance, tā zú qiú tī de h?n h?o tā p?o de fēicháng kuài 他 足 球 踢 得很 好. 她 跑 得 非常 快. HE FOOTBALL KICK DE VERY WELL SHE RUN DE EXTREMELY FAST He plays football very well. She runs extremely fast. (2) The 得 construction can also be used to describe the result of a particular action. Usually a time word (time when) is placed before or after the subject of the sentence, to indicate the action has already taken place. For instance, zóutiān w?nshang w? nán péngyou zhōngguó fàn zuò de h?n h?o 昨 天 晚 上 我 男 朋友 中 国 饭 作 得 很 好. YESTERDAY EVENING MY MALE FRIEND CHINESE MEAL COOK DE VEDRY WELL My boyfriend cooked Chinese meal very well yesterday evening. (3) They can be used to express the effect of an action and the degree of a stative verb (verb to be + adjective). For instance, tā shuō de dàjiā dōu kū le 她 说 得大家 都 哭 了. SHE SAY DE EVERYBODY ALL CRY LE She spoke to the extent that everybody cried. Everybody cried is the effect of what she had said. zhōngwén nán de w?men dōu bù xi?ng xué le 中文 难 得我们 都 不 想 学 了 CHINESE DIFFICULT DE WE ALL NOT WANT LEARN LE Chinese is so difficult that we dont want to learn any more. We dont want to learn any more tells us how difficult the Chinese language is. tā máng de méi you shíjiān chī fàn 她 忙 得 没 有 时间 吃 饭. SHE BUSY DE NOT HAVE TIME EAT MEAL She is so busy that she doesnt have time to eat. She doesnt have time to eat tells us how busy she is.