可能补语 (得/不)
RuleVerb + de/bu + complement: insert de (can) or bu (cannot) between the verb and a result/direction complement.
Curiosity
How do you turn kan dong (understand) into "can / cannot understand"?
Intuition
Slip a little gate (de/bu) between the verb and the complement. de means "can pass through" (kan de dong), bu means "cannot" (kan bu dong). It is the switch that turns a resultative into a possibility.
Visualization
Insert de into the resultative kan dong → kan de dong (can understand). de/bu go between the verb and the complement.
resultative (understand)
看verb懂complement
de inserted (can understand)
看verb得得/不 (can / cannot)懂complement
Essence
Verb + de/bu + complement. Positive uses de (kan de dong, chi de wan), negative uses bu (kan bu dong, chi bu wan). The negative is especially common in everyday speech. Unlike neng/keyi (ability/permission), it focuses on whether the result can be achieved.
Examples
这本书我看得懂。
I can understand this book.
太远了,我走不到。
It is too far; I cannot walk there.
这么多菜,我们吃得完吗?
Can we finish this much food?
Mini-quiz
Which expresses "cannot understand (by listening)"?