Advanced resultatives: 住/成/开/清楚

Chinese grammar · HSK 4 · 进阶结果补语 · By Carson 木林森

These four complements attach to verbs to specify the result:

住 zhù to live 成 chéng to succeed 开 kāi to open (transitive or intransitive) 清楚 qīng chu clear

| Complement | Core meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 住 | fixed / stopped | 抓住 (caught), 记住 (memorised) |
| 成 | transformed into | 变成 (became), 翻译成 (translated into) |
| 开 | separated / opened | 打开 (opened), 分开 (separated) |
| 清楚 | clearly / distinctly | 说清楚 (explained clearly), 看清楚 (saw clearly) |

Negative potential: V不住/不成/不开/不清楚 = cannot achieve that result.

Worked examples

Chinese	Pinyin	English	What it shows
那个单词很难，我总是记不住。	Nà gè dān cí hěn nán, wǒ zǒng shì jì bù zhù.	That word is very hard; I can never memorise it.	记住 = memorise (fixed in memory); 记不住 = potential negative: cannot memorise
请把你的想法说清楚，大家才能理解。	Qǐng bǎ nǐ de xiǎng fǎ shuō qīng chǔ, dà jiā cái néng lǐ jiě.	Please explain your ideas clearly so everyone can understand.	说清楚 = speak until clear; result-oriented (the result is clarity)
经过几年的努力，他终于把梦想变成了现实。	Jīng guò jǐ nián de nǔ lì, tā zhōng yú bǎ mèng xiǎng biàn chéng le xiàn shí.	After years of effort, he finally turned his dream into reality.	变成 = transform into (成 marks the new state achieved)

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