Complements Used with Sensory Verbs Other Than 看 and 听

[Vildhjerp]

I've recently decided to try and brush up on my understanding of complements. I happened to stumble upon Allsetlearning's page on potential complements today, and after skimming through it, I realized just then that (not only does Allsetlearning's page do this, but) dozens of sites I've visited that explain the usage of complements, whether they be potential, resultative, directional, or whatever, all use exclusively 看 and 听 as examples of sensory verbs that can be complemented. I'm assuming this is because 看 and 听 are the most commonly used sensory verbs and are therefore the first that come to peoples' minds when trying to come up with examples.

 

So, my question is: are other sensory verbs just as appropriate when it comes to complementing?

 

Could I use 尝不认 to say "to taste but not recognize the flavor of..."?

 

Or could I use 接不触 to say "to feel for but not make contact with..."?

 

Of course, I realize I can expand these into larger strings of characters to make the meaning much more obvious, but I'm still curious to know if these short verb phrases make any sense grammatically.

 

In my mind, there seems to be a very finite list of verbs that can actually be used as complements, and I want to know how far those boundaries can be pushed. Then again, I also have a feeling it all has to do with what simply does and doesn't sound right to the Chinese ear.

 

Thanks.

[yifeng]

A good question.　Yes, other sensory verbs can take potential complements to express the results of action, but different verbs should be complemented with particular complements.

 

"to taste but not recognize the flavor of...": 尝不出

 

"to feel for but not make contact with...": 摸不到、碰不到、够不到、接触不到

 

Hope it helps.

[Vildhjerp]

Oh, okay, the more common complements can be used. I guess I need to get used to how flexible 到 and 出来 are.

 

Thank you, yifeng. I appreciate the clear and straightforward response.

 

Also, just to be sure, 尝不出 and 尝不出来 mean the same thing, correct?

[yifeng]

尝不出 and 尝不出来 are exactly the same meaning，in most case you can use them alternatively. Here is a bit difference I can think of now:  

 

我尝不出汤的味道 sounds more naturally than 我尝不出来汤的味道

汤的味道我尝不出来 sounds more naturally than 汤的味道我尝不出

[Vildhjerp]

This makes perfect sense. I tend to only use directional complements when the verb they're complementing is near the end of a clause or sentence, as shoving them in the middle of everything (especially in non-topic-comment sentences, as you've illustrated) seems to prevent the sentence from flowing very well. Your examples match my thoughts exactly.

 

Thanks again, yifeng.

[Angelina]

我尝不出汤的味道 sounds more naturally than 我尝不出来汤的味道

汤的味道我尝不出来 sounds more naturally than 汤的味道我尝不出

 

They seem to be different because of prosody. 

 

I doubt 出 and 出来 are exactly the same though. I don't think they are mutually interchangeable all the time. 

[Vildhjerp]

 

 

I doubt 出 and 出来 are exactly the same though.

 

You're absolutely correct. 出来 has a set direction with respect to the performer of the action, while the direction of 出 is either implied or not necessarily important to the sentence. So 出 has a much wider variety of uses, while 出来 narrows down the exact meaning a little more.

 

However, in this case, we're using 尝不出 and 尝不出来, and when it comes down to the action of "the flavor being tasted leaving the food and moving towards the object tasting it" the 来 is pretty much implied even if it's left out of the phrase, as the flavor really has nowhere else to go but to 来 towards the taster. Unless, of course, the flavor is somehow moving somewhere else and somebody else is somehow tasting it. The process of tasting is pretty much a linear translation that never has any deviation. And by translation, I mean movement.

 

But of course, this linearity is uncommon, and now that I think about it, 来 should be implied for 出 when dealing with all sensory verbs, as they all involve the direct collection of information. To be honest, I can't think of any non-sensory verbs that would follow this ideology, just sensory ones.

 

I could also be completely wrong about all of this. If anybody finds any logical fallacies or information that just isn't right, please let me know. I'm pulling this out of pure speculation and fairly limited experience.

 

Nonetheless, thank you for your input, Angelina. I like bringing up the little things like this, as they are usually the most confusing to understand.

[yifeng]

尝不出 and 尝不出来 are exactly the same meaning，but not 出 and 出来 by themselves. The following examples may help us understand them better:

 

我出一万块。（offer / invest）

我出了五本书。（publish）

出大门，往西走。（get out of）

 

In the above examples, 出 should take an object and can't be replaced with 出来. 

 

出来！/你给我出来！（someone orders another one to get out）

In this example, the additional 来 indicates the direction is to the speaker. 

[Guest123]

来 as a complement is not always used with the meaning of direction.

For example:

我来介绍

你把地址写下来

他变得我认不出来

 

One more complement 着 (zháo)

我睡不着。

太高了，我够不着。

那是我的事，你管不着！

[Michaelyus]

闻得好香 is a nice colloquial sensory verb pattern, underrated in my opinion.

 

One syntactic difference between 出 and 出来 as complements: 让他看出 does not take 来.

 

Also, at the end of sentences/utterances: *他看出了 is deprecated, 他看出来了 is possible, 他看得出来了 is the most natural.