动词+上

[xit]

I'm going through the boya textbook, and I've found a grammar pattern that I don't fully understand. So far I've only seen it in forms of 爱上，喜欢上， even 考上， which I would kinda translate like 'to fall in love', 'to fall in like/start liking' and 'to get into for example a school by passing an exam'. Ok, I don't really know how to translate them properly in English, but I feel like i understand them, and that they make sence in my mother tongue. But this still doesn't help me with this pattern. How do I use it? Here are some of the examples in the textbook, if someone can help me understand this better...

 

老同学一见面又开始聊上以前的事了。

过去中国的北方冬天吃不上新鲜蔬菜。

 

Apparently this phrase is often used with 了 which does make sense, like 我爱上了你。 I fell in love with you. Can you say it like that? But then again you can't 爱不上 but you can 吃不上， which does make sense, but I don't quite understand the rule behind it. Also, how do I use this and form sentences with it?

[Angelina]

动词+上 does not always have the same meaning.

I can't give you a detailed analysis of possible uses of 上, I can only say that it is very compex, there is a lot of variety here. It is sometimes used to show how an activity has been accomplished, sometimes it means the activity has started. What I can definitely say is that the spatial term is used figuratively to talk about events or states. An another interesting thing is that 上 sometimes retains the imagery, it is not used fully figuratively. Also, 下、起来 and many other spatial terms can be used after a verb to talk about the activity. It is not only about 上.

唱起歌来=开始唱歌

The 上 in 吃不上 is different from 爱上.

I have not finished my thesis yet, I am still working on it, but it is an interesting area that has been neglected by grammar books. There are plenty of excerises that can drill you into getting used to them. However, the actual mapping of possible figurative use of spatial terms after verbs in Chinese has not been explained well. 动词+上 is just one of many, you can have 动词+下去 and many more.

At this point, I can only say that there is no one single 动词+上 pattern. There are many ways 上 can be used.

[jiangping]

Xit,

 

Your intuitions about the meaning of 爱上, 喜欢上, and 考上 are correct. As Angelina noted, this is a really huge topic. I remember finding it quite confusing when I first came across it.

 

The first thing to mention is that there is a general pattern of 动词 + complement. You might already know about this. There are many different complements in addition to 上. There is certainly some logic behind certain verbs being used with certain complements, but ultimately you just need to learn which types of verbs and complements usually go together, and what the (sometimes subtle) differences in meaning are.

 

It might help to think about is how the 上 is changing the meaning of the phrases. For example:

 

我爱她 "I love her” (a man might say this about his wife)

vs

我爱上她了 "I have fallen in love with her” (a guy might say this about his new girlfriend - notice the “le” showing change of state too)

 

The difference is that without the 上, the loving is an on-going state. If you add the 上, it’s actually showing the result - that you have now fallen in love. The example with 喜欢 is similar.

 

Next example:

 

考大学 "Take an exam to get into university”

vs
考上大学 "Pass an exam to get into university"

 

The difference is that 考大学 isn’t commenting on the outcome of the exam, whereas 考上大学 is showing the result - namely, getting into university.

 

In the negative, that might be:

 

没考大学 I did not take the exam to get into university

vs
没考上大学 I took and failed the exam to get into university

 

 

Regarding “爱不上”, I think this is an acceptable phrase and simply means “cannot fall in love with”. At least, the phrase makes sense to me and it gets plenty of hits on Baidu. The first hit is someone asking: 爱不上任何人——是怎么回事? “I can’t fall in love with anyone - what’s going on?"

 

I'll add in one more bonus 上 example:

 

穿裤子 "to wear trousers" / "wearing trousers" (the on-going state of wearing trousers)

vs

穿上裤子 "to put trousers on" (the process of putting them on in the first place)

[lips]

Rather memorizing the patterns, look at 上 as one of the many words in English that can be a preposition or part of a phrasal verb.

Take the word "up". "Up" can be used as part of a phrasal verb or preposition. In "come up" or "put up", "up" is part of a phrasal verb; whereas in "walk up", it's a preposition. Sometimes it can be either, depending on the usage: "run up a big hill" or "run up a big bill"; "put up a bill", "put up with Bill", etc. You just have to get used to various usages by listening, speaking, reading, and writing, plus some memorization.

穿上裤子 in the previous post is a good example. Just treat 上 the same as "on" in the English translation "put on trousers".

As mentioned, verb + 上 often means the action of the verb is successful. Howver it doesn't work with all verbs. You don't say 恨上, for example.

吃不上 means didn't eat it because one was late.

[James.lee]

吃不上means there is some reasons make you can not eat. such as you want to eat some beef,but you can not afford it. You can say:我吃不上牛肉。Another case is you are too late so that you missed you dinner,this scens you can say :我没吃上晚饭。BTW, when you want to say "I fall in love with her " you should say "我爱上了她",do not say "我爱上她"。“我爱上她”have tow different means.