Describing How Actions Are Performed Using 得

Describing How Actions Are Performed

Describing the general or past performance of an action with a manner adverbial phrase

To describe how an action is generally performed or how it was performed in the past, use the following structure:

                Action verb   得  adjectival verb

Phrases that describe the performance of an action are often referred to as manner of adverbial phrases. The word adverbial means they describe the verb.

Examples:

                他说得快。

                他开得慢。

                你们都考得好。

Note：the suffix 了，过，着 do not occur after the action verb or the adjectival verb in manner adverbial verb.

Describing the performance of an action when the verb takes an object

If the action verb takes an object, the verb is said TWICE , the first time followed by the object, and the second time followed by 得 adjectival verb:

                [action verb + object] [action verb 得 adjectival verb]

Examples:

                他说话说得快。

                他说汉语说得快。

                他开车开得慢。

                你们考试都考得好。

Modifying with intesifier

In these manner adverbial phrases, the adjectival verb may be preceded by an intensifier.

Examples:

                他说话说得很快。

                他开车开得太慢。

                你们考试都考得真好。

Modifying with negation

In manner adverbial phrases, negation must occur before the adjectival verb, not before the action verb. Negation must be 不

Examples:

                他说得不快。

                你们都考得不好。

Asking about the performance of an action

To ask how an action if performed:

(subject) action verb 得怎么样？

Examples:

                他考得怎么样？

                他开车开得怎么样？

To ask if an action is performed in particular way, form a yes-no question with the adjectival verb:

Verb-not-verb structure              

Action verb 得 adjective verb 不 adjective verb

Examples:

                你考试考得好不好？

                他说得清楚不清楚？

吗 yes-no question structure

Examples:

                你考得好吗？

                他说得清楚吗？