VI. Potential Complement And Degree Complement In Contrast

 

What are the features that distinguish the complement of degree from the potential complement? Look at the following pairs of complements in their positive and negative forms and ask yourself what complements they are.

 

A. zuò de hěn hǎo做得很好              and              zuò de bù hǎo做得不好

B. zuòdehǎo做得好                          and              zuòbùhǎo做不好

C. zuòhǎo做好                                  and              méi (yǒu) zuòhǎo没(有)做好

 

Key:

A. Complement of Degree: assessment of the action; description of the action or state

 

zuò de hěn hǎo做得 很好                                    zuò de bù hǎo做得 不好

negative:      negation on stative verb

stress:          on the complement - highlighted part

 

B. Potential Complement: can or can’t do something in certain way; can or can’t attain a purpose;

 

          zuò de hǎo做得好                                               zuò bù hǎo做不好

          negative:      replace de得with bù不

          stress:          on the verb - highlighted word

 

C. Complement of Result: the result of an action initiated by the verb. The complement announces the result of the action.

 

zuòhǎo做好                                                         méi (yǒu) zuòhǎo没(有)做好

negative:      negation on the verb

 

Among these, A and C can be hard to understand. The focus in A is on assessment. The speaker expresses his/her opinion ABOUT the action. The focus in C is on announcing the result of the action. Perhaps this analogy will help you to understand the difference. Example A is like the teacher telling his student whether she did well or not; example C is like the teacher telling his student the letter grade she received.

 

The following table shows how different complements behave in positive, negative and interrogative sentences. Highlighted words are stressed in speech.

 

　

　

Degree Complement or Potential Complement? Try these two sentences.

 

1. Zhèi ge zì zhème nán, tā xiědehǎo ma? 

             这个字这么难，他写得好吗？

2. Lǎoshī shuō zhèi ge zì Xiǎo Wáng xiě de hěn hǎo. 

   老师说这个字小王写得很好。

Key

 

1. This character is so difficult, can he write it well? (potential)

2. The teacher said that Young Wang wrote this character well. (degree)

 

Note that when the complement of degree is a stative verb, it is often modified by an adverb, but the potential complement can never take any adjunct before or after it. For example:

 

Complement of Degree

          Lǎoshī shuō zhèi ge zì Xiǎo Lǐ xiě de fēicháng hǎo.                  (The stress is on the complement.)

老师说这个字小李写得非常好。

 

Remember that another difference between the potential and degree complements lies in the fact that the sentence stress falls on different elements in the two sentences, affected by the two kinds of complement:

 

Potential Complement

Tā xiě de hǎo.                  (The stress is on the verb.)

他写得好。         

He can write well.

         

Degree Complement

Tā xiě de hěn hǎo.           (The stress is on the complement.)

他写得很好。

He writes well.

 

The potential complement has a fixed form; that is, it consists only of  a single adjective or verb (or verbal construction, such as qǐlái起来, xiàqù下去etc.), such as tīngbùqīngchu听不清楚---can’t hear clearly, chīdewán吃得完---can finish eating\can eat up the food, xiǎngdeqǐlái想得起来---can remember. A verb with a potential complement can take an object (e.g. zuòbùwán gōngkè做不完功课cannot finish homework), but the degree complement cannot be followed by the object of the verb. (For example, you can’t say ‘Tā chàng de hěn hǎo gē他唱得很好歌He sings [songs] well’, you must say ‘Tā chàng gē chàng de hěn hǎo他唱歌唱得很好---no objects can be placed after hǎo好.). Moreover, the degree complement has different forms---it may be a single word or a subject-predicate construction. For example:

 

Degree Complement

Tā shuō de dàjiā dōu xiàoqǐlái le. 

他说得大家都笑起来了。

          He spoke in such a way that everyone broke into laugh