▎起來, qĭlái, as Verb Complement, assessment of situations (1)

 

Function 起來 as a verb complement conveys the speaker’s judgment or evaluation about a situation.

1 白小姐笑起來很美。

Bái xiǎojiě xiàoqǐlái hěn měi.

Miss Bai looks pretty when she smiles.

2 那裡賣的小吃看起來很好吃。

Nàlǐ mài de xiǎochī kànqǐlái hěn hǎochī.

The snacks at that stand look delicious.

3 這個房子很小，我住起來不習慣。

Zhè ge fángzi hěn xiǎo, wǒ zhùqǐlái bù xíguàn.

This house is tiny. I am not used to tight spaces.

 

Structures

Negation：The evaluative portion cannot be negated, but the state verbs that following, the judgment, can be negated.

1 王先生的臉色今天看起來不好。

Wáng xiānshēng de liǎnsè jīntiān kànqǐlái bù hǎo.

Mr. Wang does not look very well today.

2 越南菜看起來很辣，吃起來不太辣。

Yuènán cài kàn qǐlái hěn là, chīqǐlái bútài là.

Vietnamese food looks very spicy but does not taste very spicy.

3 你說的事聽起來不難。不過，做起來有點困難。

Nǐ shuō de shì tīngqǐlái bù nán. Búguò, zuòqǐlái yǒudiǎn kùnnán.

What you said sounds easy, but it will not be easy to do.

Questions：

1 臭豆腐吃起來怎麼樣？

Chòudòufǔ chīqǐlái zěnmeyàng?

How does stinky tofu taste?

2 你昨天買的衣服穿起來好不好看？

Nǐ zuótiān mǎi de yīfú chuānqǐlái hǎo bù hǎokàn?

Do the clothes you bought yesterday look good on you?

3 他的新車坐起來是不是很舒服？

Tā de xīn chē zuòqǐlái shìbúshì hěn shūfú?

His new car rides smoothly, right?

 

Usage Verbs appearing before 起來 in this function include, 看kàn ‘to look’, 聽tīng ‘to listen’, 吃chī ‘to eat’, 喝hē ‘to drink’, 坐zuò ‘to sit’, 穿chuān ‘to wear’, 寫xiě ‘to write’, 笑xiào ‘to laugh, smile’, 說shuō ‘to say, speak’, 學xué ‘to study, learn’, 念niàn ‘to study’, 住zhù ‘to live, stay’, 走zǒu ‘to walk, go’.