▎得, de, (Ptc), Complement Marker (1)

 

Function The complement marker 得 comes in between the verb and the complement, which describes the result or state of the action represented by the verb. In Chinese, results always come after actions.

1 他學中文學得不錯。

Tā xué Zhōngwén xué de búcuò.

He has learned Chinese quite well.

2 王伯母做越南菜做得很好吃。

Wáng bómǔ zuò Yuènán cài zuò de hěn hǎochī.

Auntie Wang cooks Vietnamese food very well.

3 這件事，你做得很好。

Zhè jiàn shì, nǐ zuò de hěn hǎo.

You did a great job, this time.

4 這種手機最近賣得很好。

Zhè zhǒng shǒujī zuìjìn mài de hěn hǎo.

This type of cell phone sells well recently.

 

Structures When a complement is added to a transitive verb, several structural consequences follow.

(1) When its object directly follows the verb, the verb is repeated before得 and the complement.

1 你做飯做得真好吃。

Nǐ zuòfàn zuò de zhēn hǎochī.

You cook really well.

2 我的老師教中文教得很好。

Wǒ de lǎoshī jiāo Zhōngwén jiāo de hěn hǎo.

My teacher teaches Chinese well.

3 他們吃晚飯吃得很早。

Tāmen chī wǎnfàn chī de hěn zǎo.

They eat dinner early.

(2) When the object is moved to the front of the sentence, the verb is not repeated.

1 飯，他做得真好吃。

Fàn, tā zuò de zhēn hǎochī.

He cooks really well.

2 中文，你說得很好。

Zhōngwén, nǐ shuō de hěn hǎo.

You speak Chinese well.

3 這種甜點，他做得很好吃。

Zhè zhǒng tiándiǎn, tā zuò de hěn hǎochī.

He makes this kind of dessert very tasty.

4 這支手機賣得很便宜。

Zhè zhī shǒujī mài de hěn piányí.

This cell phone is sold cheaply.

Negation：Negation occurs only within the complement.

1 他做甜點做得不好。

Tā zuò tiándiǎn zuò de bù hǎo.

He does not make desserts well.

2 王先生打網球打得不好。

Wáng xiānshēng dǎ wǎngqiú dǎ de bù hǎo.

Mr. Wang does not play the tennis well.

3 他的咖啡賣得不好。

Tā de kāfēi mài de bù hǎo.

His coffee does not sell well.

4 越南菜，這家店做得不好吃。

Yuènán cài, zhè jiā diàn zuò de bù hǎochī.

This shop does not cook Vietnamese food well.

Questions：

1 他做飯做得怎麼樣？

Tā zuòfàn zuò de zěnmeyàng?

How (well) does he cook?

2 他打籃球打得好嗎？

Tā dǎ lánqiú dǎ de hǎo ma?

Does he play basketball well?

3 中文，他說得好不好？

Zhōngwén, tā shuō de hǎo bù hǎo?

Does he speak Chinese well?