Degree complement: V得+predicate

Chinese grammar · HSK 4 · 程度补语 · By Carson 木林森

The degree complement describes how well / to what degree an action is performed.

得 de to obtain 程度补语 chéng dù bǔ yǔ

Structure: Verb + 得 + Degree expression

> 她说得很流利。(She speaks very fluently.)

With an object: repeat the verb before 得:
> 她说中文说得很流利。✅
> ❌ 她说中文得很流利。

Negation: insert 不 before the degree:
> 他写得不太好。(He doesn't write very well.)

Question: V 得怎么样? or V 得好不好?

Worked examples

Chinese	Pinyin	English	What it shows
他跑得很快。	Tā pǎo de hěn kuài.	He runs very fast.	Minimal frame: V得 + adjective
你中文说得真不错，在哪儿学的？	Nǐ Zhōngwén shuō de zhēn bùcuò, zài nǎr xué de?	Your Chinese is really good — where did you learn it?	Object (中文) before the repeated verb (说) + 得
她做菜做得让大家都赞不绝口。	Tā zuò cài zuò de ràng dàjiā dōu zàn bù jué kǒu.	She cooks so well that everyone can't stop praising her.	Degree clause is a full sentence (让大家…) — higher complexity

Produce this pattern without stopping to think about it. GraphChinese drills Degree complement across 12 exercises and schedules the review that keeps it.

What you need first

Every topic in GraphChinese names its own prerequisites, and these are the grammar points this one is built on. If a sentence here will not parse, one of them is why.

Degree Complements

What this opens up

These patterns list Degree complement among their own prerequisites, so they become readable once this one holds.

Degree complement is one topic of 829. GraphChinese teaches them in prerequisite order, so this pattern reaches you on the day everything it rests on is proven. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.

Start at your true level