Structural Particle 得: State Complement
Pattern: Verb + 得 + (Degree Adverb) + Adjective — describes HOW the action is/was performed.
- 他跑得快。= He runs fast.
- 她说得很清楚。= She speaks very clearly.
Negation goes on the complement, NOT the verb:
✅ 他跑得不快。(doesn't run fast) ❌ 他不跑得快。(ungrammatical)
Questions: Verb + 得 + Adjective + 不 + Adjective — 他跑得快不快？
Contrast 得/的/地 (all pronounced "de", different jobs):
- 的 — before a NOUN: 我的书 (my book)
- 地 — before a VERB, marks an adverb: 慢慢地走 (walk slowly)
- 得 — after a VERB, introduces the complement: 走得慢 (walks slowly)
Common mistake: 他工作的很好 ❌ should be 他工作得很好 ✅.
Worked examples
| Chinese | Pinyin | English | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| 他跑得快。 | Tā pǎo de kuài. | He runs fast. | Minimal pattern: Verb (跑) + 得 + Adjective (快), describing how the action is performed. |
| 他跑得很快。 | Tā pǎo de hěn kuài. | He runs very fast. | Adding a degree adverb (很) before the adjective intensifies the description. |
| 他跑得不快。 | Tā pǎo de bú kuài. | He doesn't run fast. | Negation attaches to the complement (不快), not to the verb — never 他不跑得快。 |
| 他写字写得好不好？ | Tā xiě zì xiě de hǎo bu hǎo? | Does he write characters well? | Verb+得+Adjective+不+Adjective forms a yes/no question about the complement; the verb 写 repeats before 得 because it has an object (字). |
| 这是我的书，我写得很好。 | Zhè shì wǒ de shū, wǒ xiě de hěn hǎo. | This is my book — I write (in it) very well. | Contrast 的 (before the noun 书, shows possession) vs 得 (after the verb 写, introduces the complement 很好) — same sound, different jobs. |
| 他写字写得比我好。 | Tā xiě zì xiě de bǐ wǒ hǎo. | He writes characters better than I do. | The 得-complement can combine with the comparison word 比: Verb+得+比+Person+Adjective. |
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.
What this opens up
These patterns list Structural Particle 得 among their own prerequisites, so they become readable once this one holds.
Structural Particle 得 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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