What is the difference between "起来 (qǐ lái)" and "上来 (shànɡ lái)"?
Teacher: Shasha Liu Experience: 9 Years
Shasha’s experience includes teaching positions at two Chinese universities and she specializes in customizing instruction for students from different culture using storytelling and a special method to help beginning students remember Chinese characters. Shasha enjoys traveling and watching movies.
What is the difference between "起来 (qǐ lái)" and "上来 (shànɡ lái)"?
Teacher : Shasha Liu
In this video, you will learn how to differentiate the two Chinese words "起来" and "上来".
Literally, the meaning of ‘起来’ and ‘上来’ is ‘up’, the difference is that ‘上来’ can be used to emphasize the destination where a person or an object moves to, while ‘起来’ can’t.
‘Stand up’ refers to a movement that doesn’t have an exact destination but only emphasizes the direction of movement that is from down to up.
In Chinese, ‘起来’ and ‘上来’ always follow after a verb to state the direction and the result of the movement. But there is also some differences between ‘起来’ and ‘上来’.
