Chinese grammar: verb + 出来 (chūlái) construction
There are video lessons on this, in 2 parts:
- Video lesson: Verb + 出来 (chūlái) for “come out” in Mandarin Chinese grammar, part 1 of 2
- Video lesson: Verb + 出来 (chūlái) for “can't”, “didn't” and more in Mandarin Chinese grammar, part 2 of 2
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The verb + 出来 (chūlái) construction is a common pattern in Chinese grammar. It’s useful for adding information to verbs. There are two main usage patterns for the verb + 出来 construction. Learn how to use and understand them with this guide.
Verb + 出来 to express physical movement
The first usage of this pattern is to express physical movement. The characters 出 and 来 are literally “out” and “come”, so this pattern means “come out”. When verb + 出来 is used in this way, it simply expresses that during the action of the verb, something comes out of something else.
This pattern is fairly easy to use. Simply place 出来 right after the verb, and you’re done.
Here are some examples:
As you can see, in this pattern 出来 expresses the physical movement of one thing out of another.
Verb + 出来 to express a result
The same construction can also be used to express more metaphorical meanings. These include:
- the success of an action
- the completion of an action
- recognition
- gaining information from an action
In any case, the meaning here is just a metaphorical version of the one above. Something is coming out from the action, but it could be information or some sort of result. Let’s look at some examples to make this clearer:
To make this structure negative, simply make it 不出来 or 没出来. Some examples:
想不出来 is for coming up with something new. For something you knew once and can’t remember now, such as a name, use 想不起来:
Another structure for verb + 出来
Note that there is another structure for this pattern. In this alternative structure, the object in the sentence goes between 出 and 来. The structure is:
[verb] 出 [object] 来
Here are some example sentences for this structure:
If you've got any questions or suggestions, please share them in the comments!
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Vocabulary list 词单
- Vocabulary list: Chinese grammar: verb + 出来 (chūlái) construction 语法：出来、出、来 76 words and 18 example sentences
Exercises 练习
- Exercises: Chinese grammar: verb + 出来 (chūlái) construction 语法：出来、出、来 练习 16 hanzi writing exercises over 96 characters, and 3 grammar exercises over 31 items
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Other articles about 出来
- Video lesson: Verb + 出来 (chūlái) for “can't”, “didn't” and more in Mandarin Chinese grammar, part 2 of 2 A2
- Video lesson: Verb + 出来 (chūlái) for “come out” in Mandarin Chinese grammar, part 1 of 2 A2