HSK 3Lesson 10 of 15 · 6 grammar points
Possibility, intensity and rhetorical questions
Potential complements evaluate attainability, degree complements intensify, and elapsed-time complements locate an event relative to now. Rhetorical questions often remind or challenge rather than request new information. Keep these distinctions separate from ordinary tense.
Learning goals (6)
- Potential complements.
- High degree with 得很.
- Extreme degree with 极了 and 坏了.
- Time elapsed since an event.
- Method questions.
- Rhetorical 不是…吗.
动词+得/不+动词/形容词
Potential complements
Insert 得 or 不 between the action and result to express whether that result is attainable.
我听不懂。
I cannot understand what I hear.
More
Pitfall: 没听懂 reports a failed occurrence; 听不懂 expresses inability in context.
形容词+得很
High degree with 得很
Adjective+得很 expresses strong degree after the adjective.
今天冷得很。
It is very cold today.
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好得很 very good; 忙得很 very busy. This post-adjectival pattern is distinct from 很好 and 很忙. It normally uses 得, not the noun-modifier 的.
Pitfall: The complement follows the adjective; 很冷 has a different position pattern.
形容词/动词+极了/坏了
Extreme degree with 极了 and 坏了
极了 intensifies suitable adjectives; 坏了 often conveys a strong emotional or physical effect in conventional combinations.
我高兴极了。
I am extremely happy.
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高兴极了 extremely happy; 累坏了 exhausted; 乐坏了 delighted. The final elements intensify suitable combinations; 坏 is not literally bad in every such expression.
Pitfall: Do not attach 坏了 indiscriminately to any verb or adjective.
三年
Time elapsed since an event
A time phrase can measure the interval since an event rather than its duration; event type and context establish the reading.
他离开三年了。
It has been three years since he left.
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Pitfall: This does not mean the act of leaving lasted three years.
怎样
Method questions
怎样+verb asks for a way to perform an action. The answer should describe a method, not merely yes or no.
怎样去学校？
How do I get to the school?
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Pitfall: 会不会去 asks something different from the route or method.
不是…吗
Rhetorical 不是…吗
不是…吗 often reminds the listener of an expected or shared fact.
你不是已经知道了吗？
Don't you already know?
More
Pitfall: Context decides whether the question is rhetorical; do not hard-code every occurrence.
Source details (official syllabus)
Potential complements
- Syllabus item
- 动词+得/不+动词/形容词
- Category
- 可能补语1
- Grammar ID
- grammar-L3-061
- PDF page
- 393 (printed 390)
High degree with 得很
- Syllabus item
- （1）形容词+得很
- Category
- 程度补语1
- Grammar ID
- grammar-L3-062
- PDF page
- 393 (printed 390)
Extreme degree with 极了 and 坏了
- Syllabus item
- （2）形容词/动词+极了/坏了
- Category
- 程度补语1
- Grammar ID
- grammar-L3-063
- PDF page
- 393 (printed 390)
Time elapsed since an event
- Syllabus item
- 表示动作结束到某个时间点的间隔时间
- Category
- 数量补语3
- Grammar ID
- grammar-L3-064
- PDF page
- 393 (printed 390)
Method questions
- Syllabus item
- “怎样+动词”的特指问句
- Category
- 疑问句
- Grammar ID
- grammar-L3-065
- PDF page
- 394 (printed 391)
Rhetorical 不是…吗
- Syllabus item
- 用反问句表示强调：不是……吗？
- Category
- 反问句1
- Grammar ID
- grammar-L3-066
- PDF page
- 394 (printed 391)
- 1FILL BLANK
我。
Choose the expression that completes the sentence.
“I cannot understand what I hear.”
- 2FILL BLANK
你已经知道了吗？
Choose the expression that completes the sentence.
“Don't you already know?”
- 3MATCH
Tap a sentence, then tap its meaning.
Tap a sentence, then tap its meaning.
- 4CHOOSE
Which reports a particular failed understanding rather than general/current inability?
- 5CHOOSE
字太小，我看不清。
What is the difficulty?
- 6ORDER
Tap the chunks to build the sentence.
“I cannot understand what I hear.”
Tap the chunks in order. - 7ORDER
Tap the chunks to build the sentence.
“It is very cold today.”
Tap the chunks in order.
0 of 7 tasks answered.
Next lesson: Affected objects and accompanying actions →动词+得/不+动词/形容词Potential complements
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不是…吗Rhetorical 不是…吗
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