Degree & State Complements: 不得了、坏了、得+phrase
Adj/V + 得不得了 = extremely, to an extreme degree. 她激动得不得了。(She was extremely excited.)
Adj/V + 坏了 = so...that it's awful (negative extreme, attaches directly, no 得).
他气坏了。(He was furious.)
Adj/V + 得 + descriptive clause = so...that [a specific result follows]. The clause after 得 can have its own subject.
他忙得连喝水的时间都没有。(He was so busy he didn't even have time to drink water.)
Common mistake: using 很/地 instead of 得 before the result clause — 得 is required to connect the adjective/verb to the following description.
Worked examples
| Chinese | Pinyin | English | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| 她激动得不得了。 | Tā jī dòng de bù dé liǎo. | She was extremely excited. | 得不得了: fixed extreme-degree phrase attached with 得. |
| 今天热坏了，大家都不想出门。 | Jīn tiān rè huài le, dà jiā dōu bù xiǎng chū mén. | It was scorching hot today — nobody wanted to go out. | 坏了 attaches directly to the adjective (热), no 得 needed. |
| 他委屈得说不出话来。 | Tā wěi qu de shuō bu chū huà lái. | He felt so wronged that he couldn't say a word. | 得 + descriptive clause (说不出话来) — a specific result, not just a degree word. |
| 听到这个消息，她的情绪激动得不得了，痛苦得眼泪都流下来了。 | Tīng dào zhè ge xiāo xi, tā de qíng xù jī dòng de bù dé liǎo, tòng kǔ de yǎn lèi dōu liú xià lái le. | Hearing the news, her emotions were extremely stirred up, and she was in so much pain that tears streamed down. | Combines 得不得了 and 得+clause in one sentence, with emotion vocabulary (情绪/痛苦). |
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