Chinese grammar: DIRECTIONAL COMPLEMENT

The directional verbs such as 来lái/去lái  and 上shàng /下xià /进jìn /出chū /回huí /过guò /起qǐ usually go after other verbs and are used as the complements to indicate directions of actions. This complement is called THE DIRECTIONAL COMPLEMENT, which includes Simple Directional Complement, Compound Directional Complement and the Extend Use of Directional Complement. I will share the former two with you. The Extend Use of Directional Complement will be introduced to you after you can fully understand these two basic ways to apply this grammar point.  

  • Simple Directional Complement

The simple directional complement mostly uses 来lái or 去qù after a verb as its complement. 来lái indicates the movement proceeds towards the speaker. 去qù indicates the movement proceeds away from the speaker.

                 ↑

  →来lái←        ← 去qù →

 ↑          

Pattern: Verb+(object)+ /

Example

  • 我们上楼去吧。Wǒmen shàng lóu qù ba.

Let’s go upstairs. (The speaker is currently downstairs.)

  • 学生进来了。Xuéshēng jìnlái le.

The student is coming in. (The speaker is currently inside.)

Exercise:

Please make sentences with the words given.

Example :进   候机室  (说话人在外面)—刚才他进候机室去了。

         Jìn hòujīshì (shuōhuàrén zài wàimiàn)—gāngcái tā jìn hòujīshì qù le.

  1. 上     山    (说话人在山下) Shàng  shān (shuōhuàrén zài shānxià)
  2. 进     教室   (说话人在教室) Jìn jiàoshì (shuōhuàrén zài jiàoshì)
  3. 进    公园  (说话人在公园外) Jìn gōngyuán (shuōhuàrén zài gōngyuán wài)
  4. 下     楼        (说话人在楼下) Xià lóu (shuōhuàrén zài lóuxià)
  5. 回     家       (说话人在外面) Huí jiā (shuōhuàrén zài wàimiàn)
  • The Compound Directional Complement

The Compound Directional Complement mostly refers to the type with 来 or 去 after the verbs 进,出,上,下,回,过 or 起, to serve as the complement of other verbs.

Pattern Verb 1 + Verb 2+Object+/

Example:

  • 他们从教室里跑出来了。

They ran out of the classroom. (The speaker is outside.)

  • 他们从山下爬上来了。

They climbed up from the foot of the mountain.(The speaker is on the top of the mountain.)

Exercise:

Please arrange following words in the right order to form a correct sentence.

1山上下去  
         
2外边他们进来  
         
3照片寄回家
         
4一会儿咱们休息下来 
         
5往上点儿 
         
6山里火车 
         
7山下上去

 

This is Becky’s Chinese lesson, you’re welcome to share my materials to your friends. 

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Becky Huang

Hey, my name is Becky. I'm a Chinese teacher certified by the Confucius Institute with 14 years of teaching experience. I wrote all these exercises based on the New HSK Standard (2021).