II. Compound directional complements

 

A. What is the compound directional complement?

 

When the combination of a verb of motion and lái来or qù去 (see Table 2.) is suffixed to a verb to show the direction of the movement, it is called the compound directional complement. Compound directional complements are used in the same way as simple directional complements.

 

Table 2. Compound Directional Complements

 

Verb +

 

 

Compound directional complements

 

Verbs that indicate moving or transporting objects, such as bān搬 (to move), ná拿 (to take or bring), or sòng送(to deliver, carry or escort), and body movements, such as zǒu走 (to walk) or pǎo跑(to run) frequently take compound directional complements.

 

shànglai

上来

come up

 

xiàlai

下来

come down

 

jìnlai

进来

come in(to)

 

chūlai

出来

come out

 

huílai

回来

come back

 

guòlai

过来

come over

 

qǐlai

起来

get up

 

dào ... lái

到 ... 来

come to

 

shàngqu

上去

go up

 

xiàqu

下去

go down

 

jìnqu

进去

go in(to)

 

chūqu

出去

go out

 

huíqu

回去

go back

 

guòqu

过去

go over

 

 

 

N./A.

 

dào ... qù

到 ... 去

go to

 

The examples below show how verbs take compound directional complements: