The 起来 complement (figurative)

Structure Verb/Adj + 起来

起来 (qǐlái), besides "upward" (站起来 = "stand up"), has very common figurative uses. With a perception verb it means "when you…, it seems": 看起来要下雨了 = "it looks like it’s going to rain". It also marks the START of an action or state: 天气暖和起来了 = "the weather is starting to warm up". And "to recall": 想起来.

Examples

看kàn起qǐ来lái要yào下xià雨yǔ了le。
It looks like it’s going to rain.
我wǒ想xiǎng起qǐ来lái了le。
I just remembered.
天tiān气qì暖nuǎn和huo起qǐ来lái了le。
The weather is warming up.

This point and the other 370, with audio on every example, inside Wanyu.

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