Degree Complements: 动词+得+形容词 (runs fast, plays happily)

Chinese grammar · HSK 2 · 状态补语 · By Carson 木林森

Use 得 (de) after a verb to describe HOW the action is done — its manner or degree.

动词 dòng cí 得 de to obtain 形容词 xíng róng cí

Pattern: Verb + 得 + (很/非常) + Adjective

跑得快 = runs fast. 说得很清楚 = speaks very clearly.

Negation: put 不 before the adjective, NOT before 得: 跑得不快 (NOT 不跑得快).

Question: Verb + 得 + Adjective + 吗？ or Verb + 得 + 怎么样？

Careful: this 得 (de) is different from 的 (de) and 地 (de). It always comes right after the verb, before the description of how it's done.

Worked examples

Chinese	Pinyin	English	What it shows
他跑得很快。	Tā pǎo de hěn kuài.	He runs very fast.	Minimal frame: Verb (跑) + 得 + Adverb (很) + Adjective (快).
她说得不清楚，我听不懂。	Tā shuō de bù qīngchu, wǒ tīng bu dǒng.	She doesn't speak clearly, so I can't understand.	Negation goes AFTER 得, before the adjective (得不清楚), not before the verb.
你昨天唱得怎么样？——我唱得非常好！	Nǐ zuótiān chàng de zěnmeyàng? — Wǒ chàng de fēicháng hǎo!	How did you sing yesterday? — I sang extremely well!	Question form with 怎么样; the answer uses a degree adverb (非常) inside the complement.

Produce this pattern without stopping to think about it. GraphChinese drills Degree Complements across 16 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.

The same pattern at other levels

Degree Complements — HSK 3

Degree Complements 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.

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