Expressing the Results of Actions (Verb + 完/好)
Remember the result complement (one of the verb complements) we talked about in week 5 day 1? We have learned 到dào as "succeed doing something", and now we are going to talk about 完wán and 好hǎo.
完wán：The word 完wán means to finish, to accomplish, to end. So, this one emphasizes the action is finished and the process is completed.
好hǎo：The word 好hǎo means good or well. When 好hǎo is put after a verb, not only it means the action is completed but also reaches a satisfactory result you are satisfied or the action is properly done.
For most verbs, 好hǎo and 完wán are changeable. Both of them mean one action is finished.
| Sub. + verb 好hǎo/完wán + (obj.) + (了le) | |
| Wǒ míngtiān huì zuò wán wǒ de zuòyè.= Wǒ míngtiān huì zuò hǎo wǒ de zuòyè. 我明天会做完我的作业。= 我明天会做好我的作业。 |
I will finish doing my homework tomorrow. |
| Wǒ yǐjīng shōushí wán xínglǐ le.= Wǒ yǐjīng shōushí hǎo xínglǐ le. 我已经收拾完行李了。= 我已经收拾好行李了。 |
I already finished packing my luggage. |
| Nǐ mǎi wán dōngxī le ma?=Nǐ mǎi hǎo dōngxī le ma? 你买完东西了吗？=你买好东西了吗？ |
Have you finished shopping？ |
If you're still confused about the "了"s here, don't worry, we will talk more about "了" in week 5.
While for some verbs, like 看，吃，听，using 好 vs 完 conveys different meanings. Let's look at some examples:
| Verb 完wán |
Verb 好hǎo |
| Wǒ kàn wán zhè běn shūle. 我看完这本书了。 I finished reading this book. I read the whole book. |
Qǐng kànhǎo zhè běn shū de míngzì. 请看好这本书的名字。 Please look at the name of this book carefully. (implying: please remember the name of this book). |
| Nǐmen chī wán le ma? 你们吃完了吗？ Have you finished eating? (I want to know if you've finished eating because I might have to clean the table.) |
Nǐmen chī hǎo le ma? 你们吃好了吗？ Are you satisfied with the meal? (I want to know if you ate well/enough because I hope you are satisfied with the meal.) |
| Nǐmen tīng wán zhège shìqíng yǐhòu, bùyào gàosù qítā rén. 你们听完这个事情以后，不要告诉其他人。 After (finish) listening to this thing, please don't tell others. |
Nǐmen tīng hǎo, wǒ yǒu yīgè hěn zhòngyào de shìqíng yào gàosù nǐmen. 你们听好，我有一个很重要的事情要告诉你们。 Listen carefully, I have a really important thing to tell you guys. |
【EXCEPTION——想好xiǎnghǎo】
There are some exceptional verbs that you can't use to pair with both 好 and 完. "想: to think" is one of them.
We won't say “你想完了吗？”, we will only say "你想好了吗？ Have you finished thinking yet (did you decide)?"
| 想好xiǎnghǎo finished thinking; have decided. |
| Wǒ xiǎng hǎo le, wǒ míngnián yào qù zhōngguó lǚyóu. ——> I have decided that I will travel to China next year. 我想好了，我明年要去中国旅游。 |
| Nǐ xiǎng hǎo qù nǎlǐ wánle ma? ——> Have you decided where you will go？ 你想好去哪里玩了吗？ |
【OPTIONAL】
Some side notes.....
With " sub. + verb 好/完 + (obj.) + (了)" structure", you might hear Chinese people saying this differently. A lot of times, they will put the "object" first, and then finish the rest of the sentence. Grammatically, it is not correct, but we do say something like:
|
subj + obj. + verb 好/完 + (了) |
| Tā fàn chī wán le ma? (Tā chī wán fàn le ma?) ✅ 她饭吃完了吗？ （她吃完饭了吗？） |
| Piào mǎi hǎole ma? (Nǐ mǎi hǎo piào le ma?) ✅ 票买好了吗？ （你买好票了吗？） |
| Note：When the subject is 你nǐ，we can omit the subject. |
| sub. + (obj.)+ verb 好/完 + (了) |
| Nǐ jīntiān de zuòyè zuò wán le ma? (Nǐ zuò wán jīntiān de zuòyè le ma?) ✅ 你今天的作业做完了吗？ （你做完今天的作业了吗？） |
| Wǒ jiǔdiàn dìng hǎo le. (Wǒ dìng hǎo jiǔdiàn le.) ✅ 我酒店订好了。（我订好酒店了。） |
The reason why we put objects first is that we want to emphasize the object. Or sometimes, it's because the object is too long to separate from the verb. For instance, "今天的作业 today's homework". So, we move it to the front.