懂 / 清楚 / 错 / 掉 / 住 / 开 / 上 / 下【dǒng / qīngchu / cuò / diào / zhù / kāi / shàng / xià】

A result complement is a verb or adjective placed straight after the main verb to say how the action turned out. 完, 到, 见 and 好 have their own point; these eight are the next ones you meet.

What each one adds

• 懂 – understood: tīng dǒng听懂, kàn dǒng看懂, dú dǒng读懂
• 清楚 – clearly, with nothing left in doubt: kān看qīng chu清楚, shuì说qīng chu清楚
• 错 – wrongly: xiě写Cuò错, dǎ cuò打错, zǒu cuò走错
• 掉 – gone, off, away: chī diào吃掉, rēng diào扔掉, wàng diào忘掉
• 住 – held so it stays put: jì zhu记住, zhàn zhù站住, zhuā zhù抓住
• 开 – apart, open, out of the way: dǎ kāi打开, zǒu kāi走开
• 上 – shut or attached: guān shàng关上, chuān shang穿上, xiě写shǎng上
• 下 – down, or fitting into a space: zuò xia坐下, fàng xià放下, xiě xià写下

开 and 上

开 separates and 上 joins, so the same door is opened with 打开 and shut with 关上.

Negation is 没

A result that didn't come about takes 没 in front of the verb, and the 了 goes.

• × 我不听懂 → 我没听懂
• × 我没看清楚了 → 我没看清楚

To say you can't understand, the complement takes 不 in the middle: 听不懂. That is the potential complement.

The object comes after the complement

Verb and complement stay together. 了 and the object follow the pair.

• × 我看时间错了 → 我看错了时间