Basic Resultative Complements

Resultative complements are one of the most important structures in Chinese. A resultative complement is a verb or adjective placed directly after the main verb to describe what happened as a result of the action. The verb and its complement form a tight unit with no space between them.

For example, 看见 (kànjiàn) combines 看 (to look) with 见 (to perceive/see): "I looked and [as a result] saw." Similarly, 听懂 (tīngdǒng) combines 听 (to listen) with 懂 (to understand): "I listened and [as a result] understood." The complement tells you whether the action was successful and what its outcome was.

Some of the most common resultative complements at HSK 2 level are: 完 (wán, finished), 到 (dào, achieved/reached), 好 (hǎo, done properly/ready), 见 (jiàn, perceived), 懂 (dǒng, understood), 错 (cuò, incorrectly), and 清楚 (qīngchu, clearly). These attach directly to the verb: 做完 (finished doing), 找到 (found), 准备好 (prepared/ready), 听懂 (understood by listening), 写错 (wrote incorrectly).

When negating, use 没(有): "我没听懂" — "I didn't understand." The complement indicates whether the desired result was achieved, so negation says the result was not reached.