3 · Sentence patterns · about 6 minutes
Verbs that split: jiàn le miàn, bāng tā de máng
separable verbs: a verb with its object built in
Jiànmiàn, bāngmáng, shuìjiào and their relatives are a verb with its own object inside: they take no second object, and other words go between the two halves.
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“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need1
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- 客户client; customer
Understand
RememberA verb with its object built in takes no second object: le, guo and the time go between the halves, the person goes in with gēn or de.
- Signal words
- 跟…见面
- 跟…结婚
- 帮…的忙
- 生…的气
- 见了面
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Chinese.
| the whole word | 我们明天见面。 |
| a partner with gēn | 我想跟你见面。 |
| le after the verb half | 我们见了面。 |
| guo after the verb half | 他结过婚。 |
| a length of time inside | 睡了八个小时的觉 |
| a person inside with de | 帮他的忙 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
A separable verb takes no second object; the other person comes in with gēn, or with de inside the word.
我下午跟客户见面。I’m meeting a client this afternoon.
Le and guo stand straight after the verb half.
昨天我们见了面，聊了很久。We met yesterday and talked for a long time.
A length of time or an amount goes between the two halves, usually with de.
他游了一个小时的泳。He swam for an hour.
Bāngmáng and shēngqì let a person in with de: help someone, be angry with someone.
你别生我的气了。Please don’t be angry with me any more.
Example sentences
我们好久没见面了。We haven’t seen each other for ages.
他去年跟小王结婚了。He married Xiao Wang last year.
你能帮我一个忙吗？Could you do me a favour?
10 more example sentences
我昨天只睡了五个小时的觉。I only slept five hours last night.
她请了两天假，回老家了。She took two days off and went back to her home town.
你洗完澡再吃饭吧。Have your bath first, then eat.
我们周末去游了泳。We went swimming at the weekend.
他帮了我很大的忙。He was a great help to me.
孩子太兴奋了，一直睡不着觉。The child was so excited he couldn’t get to sleep.
你结过婚吗？Have you ever been married?
我想跟你见个面，谈谈这件事。I’d like to meet you and talk this over.
晚饭后我们散了一会儿步。After dinner we went for a short walk.
她唱了两首歌。She sang two songs.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English “meet” takes an object, and so the person follows the verb. 见面 already contains its object, 面, “face”; there is no room for a second one after it. The other person comes in before the verb, with 跟 or 和.
Quick check
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Next on the path: 105 · Three written forms of deBack to the learning path
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Many everyday Chinese verbs are a verb and an object fused into one word: 见面is “see” + “face”帮忙“help” + “business”睡觉“sleep” + “a sleep”结婚“tie” + “marriage”洗澡“wash” + “bath” In a dictionary they look like one verb, and in English they translate as one. In a sentence they still behave like a verb and its object, and that is where English speakers trip.
First, they already have an object, so they cannot take another. “Meet him” is not 见面他 but 跟他见面, “meet face to face with him”. “Marry her” is 跟她结婚. “Help me” is 帮我, or, with the whole word, 帮我的忙 — literally “help my business”.
Second, the two halves come apart. 了 and 过 go straight after the verb half: 我们见了面, “we met”; 他结过婚, “he has been married before”. A length of time or an amount goes in the middle too, usually with 的: 我睡了八个小时的觉, “I slept for eight hours”.
Which words split this way has to be learnt word by word, and a good dictionary marks them. The commonest are worth knowing at once: 见面, 帮忙, 睡觉, 结婚, 生气, 洗澡, 游泳, 唱歌, 跳舞, 毕业, 请假, 散步. Most of them describe something one does, rather than something one does to somebody — which is exactly why the other person needs 跟 or 的 to get in.
A closer look
Why a dictionary word can split
These words were phrases before they were words, and grammar still treats them as phrases. 睡觉 is “sleep a sleep”, in the way English says “sing a song” or “dance a dance”; once that is clear, 睡一个好觉, “have a good sleep”, is no more strange than “sing a good song”.
Not every two-syllable verb that looks like this splits. 学习, 参观 and 讨论 are two verbs of similar meaning side by side, not a verb and its object, and they take an ordinary object: 参观博物馆. The test is whether the second syllable could be a thing.
Exceptions and special cases1
Exception
When the word is 毕业, “graduate”
then the school goes in front: 大学毕业, or 从…毕业.
她去年从北京大学毕业了。She graduated from Peking University last year.
Why? 毕业 is “finish one’s studies” and already has its object. English “graduate from university” suggests a place after the verb; Chinese names it first.
Worth knowing1
Worth knowing
Doubling a separable verb
When a separable verb is doubled to mean “a little, for a while”, only the verb half doubles: 见见面, 聊聊天, 散散步 — never “jiànmiàn jiànmiàn”.
有空我们见见面吧。Let’s get together when you have time.