grammar → V得/不起
TSUMUGU · TBCL 3 (est.) · 語法
V得/不起 grammar point · tier 1 · afford complement V得/不起 (can or can't bear the cost of V-ing)
· qǐ
Marks whether you can bear the cost the verb demands: V得起 can afford/sustain it, V不起 cannot.

Hook inherited from 可能補語.

Marks whether you can bear the cost the verb demands
框 · Frame
[verb] 得/不 起
觸 · Trigger
You want to say whether the price or strain of doing something is within reach.
序 · The move
1Take the verb of the costly act (買, 養, 住, 經).Is there a cost — money, effort, strain — you might not be able to carry?
2Wedge 得 in for can-bear-it, 不 in for can't.得 = the load lifts; 不 = it stays stuck.
3Cap it with 起.Reads V得起 / V不起, no 了 or 著 between the verb and 起.
例 · Examples
1這支this (one, long thin thing)手錶watch現在now在打折is on sale，一般ordinary學生student也also, even買得起can afford to buy。
This watch is on sale right now, so even an ordinary student can afford it.
界 · Boundary
可能補語
The general potential V得/不+result asks if the verb reaches any outcome (看得懂 understands). V得/不起 fixes the outcome as 起 = bearing the cost; it answers affordability and strain, not comprehension or success.
結果補語
Plain V起 (站起, 拿起) reports a real lifting that happened. Splicing 得/不 in turns the lift into a question of capacity, and 起 stops meaning literal rise.
✗ 我不能買起這個房子 → ✓ 我買不起這個房子
✗ 這本書我買得起了 → ✓ 這本書我買得起
✗ 他養不能起三個孩子 → ✓ 他養不起三個孩子
English splits 'can' off as a separate word before the verb (can afford); Chinese threads 得/不 inside the verb-起 unit, so 'can' has no standalone slot here.
關 · Related
可能補語the parent frame — V得/不起 fixes its result slot to 起結果補語plain V起 with no 得/不 is a literal result, not a capacityV起來the same 起 as a directional, lifting in space rather than bearing a cost