Chapter 1. Once 在 the 旁 with the 旁 in the picture, a man asked 不得不 他 把 椅子 推走了. The man couldn’t avoid 把 it. And he had to put the chair 推走了 . You see? If there were two 不得不 他, the sentence would have been: 她们俩不得不 他们俩 把 椅子 推走了. 不得不 , 把 , and 推走 are three complements. In fact, you might think 把 椅子 推走了 was the complement. You can see now how grammar has to do with the logic. If you have a simple sentence like 她推兰 的椅子 (she pulled 阿丽娜’s chair) , you might have to think about the logic, “if 阿丽娜 把 the chair 推走了, what would 阿丽娜 do? I’ll bet it’s something like 阿丽娜 让 这个椅子 倾心地 推走了. The complement is 倾心地 , the word “heartfelt.” Complements Are Like the Objects of a Verb You can make another kind of combination with a complement, especially if it’s a clause with subject and predicate: Complements Express Actions Now I see why I can add an adverb ( 心地 ) like that. If the action is expressed in a clause, I can add it. 心地 means, “heartfeltly.” The sentence means “she pulled 阿丽娜’s chair with heartfelt passion.” So the complement acts like an object. When I want to express an action, I can place an adverb between a verb and its object. If you learn to make this kind of combination, you’ll find it easier to make other kinds of sentences. You’ll find out why you can say: He 跳 起来 He stood up with a jump. 或者 said or “or 在 公共场所 一 看 She saw him in a public place. It’s easy. It’s like she saw him by a tree in a public place. That’s why the complement acts like an object. If you can’t see how to make a complement or explain why you have problems, it might help you to learn to make new kinds of sentences until the problem disappears. For now, though, you can probably write or understand: 他 把 钱 拿 走了 He took the money away. You’ll probably understand: 他 把 钱 扔 进 资金 筐里. He tossed the money into the fund. You can understand it because you know how to make 拿走了, and because the two sentences are similar. You could put a little clause in 筐里 if you want, just as you could in the other sentence. The problem with the second sentence is that the 筐里 sounds too strange. You have to think about why you’re making a sentence instead of a logical argument. That’s like what happens if you use a complement. You probably understand these sentences: 这 有点 困难 That’s somewhat difficult. 在 高楼大厦 一 下 On top of a skyscraper. 在 小 屋子里 是 不大 舒服 的 It’s not very comfortable in a small house. Some of the complements express actions, like the last two. Others express states, like 困难. Some describe places where something happened or something is found, like 公共场所, or 屋子. Now it’s a little harder to write “That is the very simple case.” You could do it. 很 简单 That’s easy. 你们俩 让 我 很 困 恼 You two made me feel so uncomfortable. Those are different states of being, like 不安, or 不舒服. That’s an adjective. You have to learn the rules of the grammar for each combination. Then you’ll be able to write the other combinations. How you make a complicated sentence in English There are two more important kinds of sentences you can make in Chinese. They have to do with two important parts of English. How you make sentences with noun phrases and verb phrases. How you make sentences with things you say or describe or make with some property. How you use these kinds of sentences for arguments When you read that, you’ll probably hear “the very part,” “the very thing,” and “the very matter” in your mind. Don’t laugh! It’s important to know these sentences! The parts that you want to have here are the noun phrase and the verb phrase. All you have to do is put the noun phrase with the verb phrase. A noun phrase is an important part of a sentence, but not so important that it counts as a formal part of grammar. You could think of a noun phrase as a name. So, for example, a sentence with a noun phrase like “me” might be: 呜呼 我 又 要 打破 一 个 奇 异 的 空 间. Wuff wuff! I want to break the wonderful, absurd gap of nothingness! In this case, the speaker’s problem is “nothingness.” “I” would be the noun phrase. The verb phrase would be 要 打破 一 个 奇 异 的 wants to break the amazingness. The 奇异 (奇 怪) is a kind of noun phrase, because it means, “strange,” or “weird” or “amazing.” What You Use in a Noun Phrase If you need to talk about something very specific, you make the noun phrase like “this one” or “this one thing.” If the subject is a person, you could say: 这 是 我 的 爱 人 。 This is my darling’s wife. 你 是 我 的 大 哥. You’re my brother-in-law. 我 买 的 是 手机. I bought a mobile phone. It’s also used to talk about the person’s gender or age, if you’re talking about people, or an occupation, as in 我 认 为 你 是 个 艺 术家. If you want to use an adjective with a noun phrase, it goes in the same place, right after the noun phrase. 这 个 男 人 很 单 纯 。 This man is very single-minded. It’s a great thing to learn to do these two kinds of sentences in Chinese! It’s really useful for business or travel or for writing or thinking. You’ll also learn how to make the kinds of sentences that people get confused about. We’ll see all of this in the next lesson. Learn Chinese Online Get Fluent Forever Take your Chinese to the next level with 1000+ new Chinese levels every month. I have read a lot of good threads and articles on here over the years but I felt it needed to be said on this subject. This should be added. "What one person describes as a single event could describe two or more nouns.". Example: I read. To some this is a verb. Others could consider this to be a state or something else. That's the point. So many people misunderstand what is meant by a sentence. It's meant to express what the writer intended to say but not everyone will interpret that way. So be specific with your writing so others don't make the same mistake. You will still need to add one or more nouns after the verb so it must be interpreted as such. I hope that made sense. The point I was trying to make is sometimes people have the wrong idea about how to approach writing. I think it depends on the grammar point, not the semantic or meaning.I would not say