TSUMUGU · TBCL 3 (est.) · 語法
V得/不下
grammar point · tier 1 · potential complement with 下 (fits / doesn't fit into a space)
Potential: whether the verb gets the object down into a space that holds it — fits or doesn't fit.
Hook inherited from 可能補語 .
Potential
框 · Frame
[verb] 得/不 下 ([object])
觸 · Trigger
Asking whether a space has room for a thing — will it go in.
序 · The move
1 Pick the verb of placing or holding (放, 裝, 坐, 站). Is the question whether something fits, not whether it is done? If done, use 了/結果補語 instead.
2 Infix 得 for fits, 不 for doesn't fit, then add 下. Did 得/不 go between the verb and 下, not before the verb?
3 Name the thing that does or doesn't go in after 下. Does the space being filled make sense — a room, a bag, a row of seats?
例 · Examplesshown tap blur
1 這個房間放得下can fit (it goes down into the space) 沙發嗎？我的書包放不下can't fit (it won't go down into the space) 這麼多書。
Can this room fit a sofa? My backpack can't hold this many books.
界 · Boundary
可能補語 可能補語 is the general can/can't-reach-the-result (看得懂, 拿得到). V得/不下 fixes the result as 下 — down into a space that holds it; the question is capacity, not ability.
結果補語 結果補語 (放下) states the placing happened. V得/不下 inserts 得/不 to ask whether it can happen — whether there is room.
✗ 這個房間不放下沙發 → ✓ 這個房間放不下沙發 (得/不 wedges between the verb and 下, never before the verb)
✗ 放下不沙發 → ✓ 放不下沙發 (不 sits before 下, inside the verb+下 pair)
✗ 書包放不下了這麼多書 → ✓ 書包放不下這麼多書 (potential 不下 takes no 了 — it reports capacity, not a completed event)
English splits 'fit' from 'can': 'can it fit'. Chinese fuses both into 放得下 — the 得 IS the 'can', wedged inside the verb, with no separate modal.