Level 1 Lesson 9.1 – I Didn’t See That Chinese Book

Grammar 1: 结果补语 Complement of Result in Chinese · HSK 1

补语 bǔyǔ Complement is a very important grammatical structure in Chinese. It is rarely seen in other languages, and deserves our extra attention. There are different types of Complement and jíguǒ bǔyǔ 结果补语 Complement of Result is one of them.

Verb  + Result 

Here are some examples of how Complement of Result is used to construct a new word.

Grammar 2: Compare 看见 VS. 看 · HSK 1

When we compare 看见 VS. 看 in Chinese, kànjiàn 看见 means "to look and then see" and kàn 看 means "to look; to look at; to take a look; to read (books); to watch(TV or movies)".

• tā xiǎng kàn diàn yǐng 
  他想看电影。
  He wants to watch a movie.
• tā xǐhuan kànshū
  她喜欢看书。
  She likes reading books.
• wǒ méi kànjiàn tāde diànnǎo 
  我没看见他的电脑。
  I didn't see your computer.

Note that in English we can see "to see a movie", but in Chinese, we don't kànjiàn diànyǐng 看见电影 , we only kàn diànyǐng 看电影。

Grammar 3: Compare 听见 VS. 听 · HSK 1

Now we'll compare 听见 VS. 听. Tīngjiàn 听见 means "to hear", and tīng 听 means "to listen; to listen to"

• tā xiǎng tīng nǐ shuō Zhōngwén
  他想听你说中文。
  He wants to listen to you speak (some) Chinese.
• tā méi tīngjiàn nǐ shuō Zhōngwén
  他没听见你说中文。
  He didn't hear you say (any) Chinese.
• tā xǐhuan tīng yīnyuè
  她喜欢听音乐。
  She likes listening to music.
• wǒ méi tīngjiàn yīnyuè
  我没听见音乐。
  I didn't hear music.

Grammar 4: Compare 学会 VS. 学 · HSK 1

When we compare 学会 VS. 学 in Chinese, xuéhuì 学会 means to have learned and there is a result, which is to have acquire the skill of knowledge. Xué 学 only means to learn or to study

• wǒ xiǎng xué Fǎyǔ
  我想学法语。
  I want to learn French.
• tā zài Fǎguó xuéxí
  她在法国学习。
  She studies in France.
• wǒ méi xuéhuì Fǎyǔ
  我没学会法语。
  I wasn't able to learn French. / I didn't acquire (the skill of) French.