Expressing the Results of Actions (Verb + 到)

The concept of "results of actions" is a super fun, kinda funky, and absolutely VITAL part of the Chinese language. Before we can have a meaningful talk about this, we need to learn a new English word: "verb complement" or "result complement"

Verb complement is a general name for all the complements in Chinese. They express what the verb has achieved, or the "state"/"result" of the verb. In Chinese, we have result complement (which we are learning right now), directional complement and more. But for now, let's focus on the result complement.

Now, what is a result complement? They all indicate that the action has certain results. This is how we will refer to these "results" from verbs. In English, something like "I finished eating" or "go out" are examples of verb complements. As you can see, in English the results sometimes go after the verb, but sometimes go before too. Mandarin is freaking awesome because in Mandarin verb complements ONLY go after the verb.

There are lots of results complements in Mandarin, but today, we are only learning “到dào” as our result complements.

到dào's base meaning is "to arrive"/"to reach". When we put it at the end of a verb, what we are saying is that the verb "arrived at" that action.

Straightforward verbs: 看kàn，听tīng，找zhǎo.

Take the word "to listen" for instance. This word implies that I am actively trying to get some type of information, I am "listening" for a sound. Well, what happens when the ear and sound meet when the sound "arrives" in my ear? 我听到了wǒ tīngdào le。"I listen arrive at it". --> "I hear it".

Let's look at some example:

看kàn --> 看到kàndào to look --> to see	Wǒmen zuótiān kàn dào le yī zhǐ báisè de gǒu. ——> We saw a white dog yesterday. 我们昨天看到了一只白色的狗。
听tīng --> 听到tīngdào to listen --> to hear	Nǐ kěyǐ tīng dào wǒ de shēngyīn ma? ——> Can you hear my voice? 你可以听到我的声音吗？
找zhǎo--> 找到zhǎodào to look for --> to find	Wǒ zhǎo dào le yīgè fēicháng hǎo de jǐngdiǎn. ——>  I found a really good tourist destination. 我找到了一个非常好的景点。

NOTE: In the first sentence, you might ask why we can't just say 我们昨天看了一只白色的狗(Wǒmen zuótiān kànle yī zhǐ báisè de gǒu), because you are not saying you just looked at the dog or you watched the dog; you saw a dog. Your eyes landed on the dog, so to speak.

Less straightforward verbs: 吃dào，喝hē，买mǎi，拍pāi，订dìng，租zū.
For all of these, we don't have an easy English translation. So we are going to use "succeed" to express what these words mean.

verb → verb 到dào

to do → to "succeed in doing" something (emphasizing the result)

吃到chīdào to "succeed in eating" something	Wǒ zài zhōngguó chī dào le hěnduō hào chī de zhōngguó cài. ——> I succeeded in eating delicious Chinese food in China. 我在中国吃到了很多好吃的中国菜。
买到mǎidào to "succeed in buying" something	Nǐ mǎi dào huǒchē piàole ma? ——> Did you succeed in buying train tickets？ 你买到火车票了吗？ Méiyǒu, xiànzài mǎi piào bù róngyì. ——> No, it's not easy to buy tickets now. 没有，现在买票不容易。
拍到pāidào to "succeed in taking" photos	Wǒ pāi dào le hěnduō lì lì de hǎokàn de zhàopiàn. ——> I succeeded in taking many good pictures of Lili. 我拍到了很多丽丽的好看的照片。

The 到dào expresses that these actions "arrived" at the intended result, and that information was received or something succeeded in happening. There are more verbs you can pair with 到dào , but for now, let's just focus on these four 😉

Okay, so we have 3 kinds of 到 so far:

1. In week 4, we learned 到dào as "to arrive"

2. In week 4, we learned 从cóng...到dào... as "from...to..."

3. Here, we have result complement "verb + 到dào"