V起N（來） — the action sets off and runs on, often catching the listener off guard.

grammar → V起N（來）

TSUMUGU · TBCL 4 (est.) · 語法

V起N（來） grammar point · tier 1 · launch into an activity: V起N來

Threads an object through 起…來 to mark taking up an activity — the action sets off and runs on, often catching the listener off guard.

Hook inherited from 趨向補語.

Threads an object through 起…來 to mark taking up an activity — the action sets off and runs on, often catching the listen

框 · Frame

[subj] (竟然/就) V 起 [obj] 來（了）

觸 · Trigger

I want to say someone has launched into doing something and carried on, often when it catches me off guard.

序 · The move

1Split the verb from its object: V | N.Is N the thing the action takes up? A destination or result is not this frame.

2Drop 起 right after V, slide N in, close with 來.Does it read set into V-ing N and kept going? Plain upward 起來 is V起來1.

3Add 竟然 or 了 when the launch is sudden or freshly noticed.Is the focus on starting-and-continuing, not on finishing?

例 · Examples

1他最不愛上學，現在竟然of all things; unexpectedly當起老師來了marks the new, just-noticed state。

He hated school most of all, and now of all things he has gone and taken up being a teacher.

界 · Boundary

V起來2 (inchoative, no object)

V起來2 marks the same onset-and-continue but keeps 起來 fused at the tail (笑起來 = burst out laughing). V起N來 has an object to place, so 起 and 來 split apart and the noun threads between them (下起雨來 = the rain sets in). The deciding feature is whether there is an object to split around.

趨向補語 (directional V起來1)

Directional 起來 lifts the action up or off the ground (站起來 stand up, 拿起來 pick up). V起N來 carries no upward motion; it marks taking up and running with an activity. Ask whether anything physically rises; if not, it is the launch reading.

了2 (new state)

了2 reports that a new state now holds (下雨了 = it is raining now). V起N來 films the action at the instant it kicks off and keeps going. One states the state, the other films its start.

✗ 他當老師起來了 → ✓ 他當起老師來了 (the object sits between 起 and 來, never after 起來)

✗ 他竟然當起來老師了 → ✓ 他竟然當起老師來了 (the noun splits 起 and 來; they do not stay fused)

✗ 唱起來歌 → ✓ 唱起歌來 (verb, 起, object, then 來)

English take up teaching or start to teach puts one phrase ahead of the object, so learners leave 起來 fused and tack the noun on after it, instead of threading the noun through the middle.