A2
得 — how well you do it
How 得 attaches a description to a verb in Chinese, why 他说中文得很好 is wrong, and how this 得 differs from the one inside a potential complement.
得 links a verb to a description of how it is done. It is toneless, and what follows it behaves like any other adjective — which means it wants 很 in front, for the usual reason.
他跑得很快。
Tā pǎo de hěn kuài.
He runs fast.
你说得很好。
Nǐ shuō de hěn hǎo.
You speak well.
我昨天睡得不好。
Wǒ zuótiān shuì de bù hǎo.
I slept badly last night.
Note where the negative goes: 睡得不好, not 不睡得好. 得 is describing how the sleeping went, so 不 belongs to the description rather than to the verb.
With an object, say the verb twice
This is the shape people stumble over. 得 has to sit directly against the verb, and an object has already taken that place — so the verb is repeated, once with the object and once with the description.
他说中文说得很好。
Tā shuō Zhōngwén shuō de hěn hǎo.
He speaks Chinese well.
他说中文得很好。
他说中文说得很好。
得 cannot reach over the object to find its verb. Repeating 说 is not redundancy — it is what gives 得 something to attach to.
Dropping the first verb also works, and is common when the object is already in the air: 他中文说得很好. What you cannot do is leave the object between the verb and 得.
Asking about it
怎么样 is the natural question, and 得 keeps its place.
他中文说得怎么样？
Tā Zhōngwén shuō de zěnmeyàng?
How’s his Chinese?
你昨天睡得好不好？
Nǐ zuótiān shuì de hǎo bu hǎo?
Did you sleep well?
More than an adjective can follow
得 introduces a whole description, and the descriptions can get long and vivid. This is where a lot of the colour in spoken Chinese lives.
他高兴得跳了起来。
Tā gāoxìng de tiàole qǐlai.
He was so happy he jumped up.
我累得说不出话来。
Wǒ lèi de shuō bu chū huà lái.
I was too tired to speak.
Not the same as the 得 in a potential complement
Same character, different structure. Here 得 is followed by a description of how it went. In 听得懂 it is followed by a result and can be swapped for 不 — see potential complements. The giveaway is what comes after it, and whether 不 could take its place.