Direction Complement with 把 bǎ

What is a Direction Complement?

A direction complement describes where an action moves. Especially movement toward or away from something. Common examples include:

• 來来 (lái) – come
• 去 (qù) – go
• 上 (shàng) – up
• 下 (xià) – down
• 進进 (jìn) – enter
• 出 (chū) – exit
• 回 (huí) – return
• 過过 (guò) – cross / pass

These can be combined:

• 走進进去 (zǒu jìn qù) – walk in
• 拿出來来 (ná chū lái) – take out (toward the speaker)
• 搬回去 (bān huí qù) – move back (away from the speaker)

What is 把 bǎ?

把 is a grammatical structure used to emphasize how an object is handled or affected by an action.

Structure

把 + (neg- or adv.) + object + verb phrase

When you use direction complements with 把, the structure becomes:

把 + (neg- or adv.) + object + verb + direction complement

把bǎ垃圾lèsè拿ná出chū去qù把bǎ垃圾lājī拿ná出chū去qù
Take out the trash.

把bǎ鞋子xiézi放fàng進jìn鞋櫃xiéguì裡lǐ把bǎ鞋子xiézi放fàng进jìn鞋柜xiéguì里lǐ
Put the shoes into the shoe cabinet.

別bié把bǎ手機shǒujī從cóng包包bāobāo裡lǐ拿ná出來chūlái别bié把bǎ手机shǒujī从cóng包包bāobāo里lǐ拿ná出来chūlái
Don’t take the phone out of your bag.

我wǒ可以kěyǐ把bǎ貓māo帶dài回家huíjiā嗎ma？ 我wǒ可以kěyǐ把bǎ猫māo带dài回家huíjiā吗ma？
Can I take the cat home?

請qǐng把bǎ水杯shuǐbēi拿ná過來guòlái給gěi我wǒ请qǐng把bǎ水杯shuǐbēi拿ná过来guòlái给gěi我wǒ
Please bring the cup of water over to me.

孩子háizi把bǎ褲子kùzi脫tuō下來xiàlái孩子háizi把bǎ裤子kùzi脱tuō下来xiàlái
The child took off his pants.

把bǎ錢qián全部quánbù拿ná出來chūlái把bǎ钱qián全部quánbù拿ná出来chūlái
Take out all the money.

Why use 把 bǎ？

The short answer: it’s about emphasizing the object.
Unlike English, Chinese usually puts the most important information at the beginning of a sentence. That’s why time and people often come first.

But what if you want to highlight a particular object. Something really important? Simple: move it to the front! Doing that shifts it from just “an object” to the object — the focus of the sentence.

The verb stays at the end, which makes it easy to add extra details or explanations afterward. These extra parts are what we call complements in Chinese grammar.