Complement Sentence Using 得

In the hsk online course, we introduced the usage of complement in Chinese. To most people, this grammar point is always very challenging. Now we will illustrate with two types of sentences using 得. Before that, let’s know what a complement is.

 

In Chinese, a verb can be followed by another word to explain its further meaning, which is known as a complement. A complement indicates the degree of the verb. In a complement sentence, the particle “得” , which indicates how the actions are done is often used to connect the verb and the complement.

 

Now let’s see the first type of sentence using a complement:

 

S + N + V + 得 + Complement

wǒ zúqiú tī dé hǎo.

1. 我 足球 踢 得 好。

  I am good at playing football.

 

tā hànyǔ shuō dé hǎo.

2. 她 汉语 说 得 好。

  She is good at speaking Chinese.

 

When we want to express the negative meaning, “不” can be added before the complement.

wǒ zúqiú tī dé bùhǎo.

3. 我 足球 踢 得 不好。

  I am not good at playing football.

 

tā hànyǔ shuō dé bùhǎo.

4. 她 汉语 说 得 不好。

  She is not good at speaking Chinese.

 

There is another sentence pattern to express a complement in Chinese. If the verb is followed by an object, the verb should be repeated after the object.

S + V + O + V + 得 + complement

tā shuōhànyǔ shuō dé hǎo.

5. 她 说汉语 说 得 好。

  She is good at speaking Chinese.

 

tā chànɡɡē chànɡ dé hǎotīnɡ.

6. 她 唱歌 唱 得 好听。

  She is good at singing songs.

Feel free to explore more hsk grammar. The grammar rules are explained in a brief and straight-forward way. Every sentence example has a recording made by our native teachers so that you can listen and repeat.