起 (qǐ) starts life meaning "rise / get up" — 起床 (qǐchuáng) "get out of bed", 起来 (qǐlái) "get up". But its dictionary meaning is the least of it. The reason 起 shows up constantly is that it heads the complement 起来, one of the most versatile — and most misread — pieces of Chinese grammar. 起来 does three very different jobs: literal upward motion (站起来 "stand up"), inceptive "begin to" (下起雨来 "start raining"), and evaluative "seems / comes across as" (看起来 "looks like"). On top of that, 起 is the potential complement of affordability (买得起 "can afford"). Learn to see which 起 you're looking at and a large slice of the language opens up.
Sense 1: get up / rise (the plain verb)
The literal core: leave the bed, get to your feet. 起床 "get up (in the morning)", 起立 "stand (formal command, e.g. in class)".
我每天七点起床。
wǒ měitiān qī diǎn qǐchuáng
I get up at seven every day. — 起床 'get out of bed'.
太阳还没起来，天就亮了。
tàiyáng hái méi qǐlái, tiān jiù liàng le
It got light before the sun was even up. — 起来 'rise' (literal).
Sense 2: 起来 (literal) — upward motion
Attached to a verb, 起来 adds "up (off a surface)": 站起来 "stand up", 拿起来 "pick up", 坐起来 "sit up (from lying)". This is the physically transparent use.
他慢慢地站了起来。
tā mànmàn de zhàn le qǐlái
He slowly stood up. — 站起来, verb + 起来 'up'.
她把地上的钱包捡起来。
tā bǎ dìshàng de qiánbāo jiǎn qǐlái
She picked the wallet up off the floor. — 捡起来 'pick up'.
Sense 3: 起来 (inceptive) — begin to
This one surprises everyone. 起来 also marks the start of an action or state: 笑起来 "burst out laughing", 下起雨来 "start raining", 热闹起来 "liven up". Crucially, if there's an object, it slots between 起 and 来: 下起雨来 — the object sits inside the complement.
说着说着，大家都笑了起来。
shuōzhe shuōzhe, dàjiā dōu xiào le qǐlái
As we talked, everyone burst out laughing. — 笑起来 'start laughing'.
刚出门就下起雨来了。
gāng chūmén jiù xià qǐ yǔ lái le
It started raining the moment we went out. — 下起雨来, object 雨 sits inside 起…来.
Sense 4: 起来 (evaluative) — seems / comes across as
With verbs of perception, 起来 means "when you V it, it seems…": 看起来 "looks", 听起来 "sounds", 说起来 "when you put it into words". This is not literal — 看起来 has nothing to do with looking upward.
你看起来很累，早点儿休息吧。
nǐ kàn qǐlái hěn lèi, zǎo diǎnr xiūxi ba
You look tired — get some rest early. — 看起来 'seem, look'.
这个主意听起来不错。
zhège zhǔyi tīng qǐlái búcuò
That idea sounds pretty good. — 听起来 'sound (like)'.
Sense 5: the potential 起 — afford / manage
Fused into a potential complement, 起 asks whether you can rise to something — most often money: 买得起 / 买不起 (mǎi de qǐ / mǎi bu qǐ) "can / can't afford". The same 起 hides in the frozen 对不起 (duìbuqǐ, "can't face you" → "sorry") and 了不起 (liǎobuqǐ, "amazing").
这么贵的房子，谁买得起？
zhème guì de fángzi, shéi mǎi de qǐ
Who can afford a house this expensive? — 买得起 'can afford'.
想起来 — the memory verb
A high-frequency figurative use: 想起来 (xiǎng qǐlái) "recall, have something come back to you". The 起来 pictures a buried memory surfacing.
我突然想起来今天是她的生日。
wǒ tūrán xiǎng qǐlái jīntiān shì tā de shēngrì
I suddenly remembered today is her birthday. — 想起来 'recall'.
Key collocations
| Phrase | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 起床 | qǐchuáng | get up (from bed) |
| 站起来 | zhàn qǐlái | stand up |
| 想起来 | xiǎng qǐlái | recall, remember |
| 看起来 / 听起来 | kàn qǐlái / tīng qǐlái | seem, look / sound like |
| 下起雨来 | xià qǐ yǔ lái | start raining |
| 买得起 / 买不起 | mǎi de qǐ / mǎi bu qǐ | can / can't afford |
| 对不起 | duìbuqǐ | sorry |
| 了不起 | liǎobuqǐ | remarkable, amazing |
| 一起 | yìqǐ | together |
| 起点 | qǐdiǎn | starting point |
Grammar notes
The 起来 complement spans a literal directional sense (站起来, 拿起来), an inceptive "begin to" sense (下起雨来, 笑起来), and a figurative / evaluative sense (看起来, 说起来) — all catalogued in the wider directional-complement overview. The potential 起 (买得起 / 买不起) is its own strand: see the afford potential. Note also that 起床 is a separable verb — 起了床, 起不来床 — so you don't stack an object on the whole word. For the memory-and-thinking verb that feeds 想起来, see 想 (want / think / miss).
Common Mistakes
1. Reading 看起来 as "look up". 看起来 is evaluative — "seem / look (like)". To physically look upward, use 抬头看 or 往上看.
❌ 我看起来天上的星星。
看起来 means 'it seems' — it can't take an object like this. To 'look up at the stars', use 抬头看 / 往上看.
✅ 天看起来要下雨了。
tiān kàn qǐlái yào xià yǔ le
It looks like it's going to rain.
2. Stacking an object on the separable 起床. 起床 already contains its object (床); don't add another.
❌ 我今天起床了床。
Doubled object — 起床 already includes 床. Say 我起床了, or split it as 我起了床.
✅ 我今天六点就起床了。
wǒ jīntiān liù diǎn jiù qǐchuáng le
I got up at six today.
3. Putting the object outside 起…来 in the inceptive. The object goes between 起 and 来.
❌ 突然下雨起来了。
Word order is off — the object 雨 belongs inside: 下起雨来了.
✅ 突然下起雨来了。
tūrán xià qǐ yǔ lái le
It suddenly started to rain.
4. Using 不能买 for "can't afford". The affordability sense is carried by 起, not by 不能.
❌ 这辆车太贵，我不能买。
不能买 = 'not permitted / able to buy'. For 'can't afford it', the potential is 买不起.
✅ 这辆车太贵，我买不起。
zhè liàng chē tài guì, wǒ mǎi bu qǐ
This car is too expensive — I can't afford it.
Key Takeaways
- Plain 起 = rise / get up (起床, 起来); its power is as the complement 起来.
- 起来 has three faces: up (站起来, 捡起来), begin to (笑起来, 下起雨来), and seems (看起来, 听起来).
- In the inceptive, an object sits inside: 下起雨来.
- Potential 起 = afford / manage: 买得起 = can afford, 买不起 = can't (≠ 不能买); frozen in 对不起, 了不起.
- 起床 is separable — 起了床, 起不来床 — so never double the object.
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- 想 (xiǎng) — want to / think / missHSK 1 — 想 (xiǎng) does three jobs: the soft modal 'want to / would like' + verb (我想去), 'think / ponder / plan' (让我想想, 想办法), and 'miss / long for' (我想你, 想家). It is gentler than 要, and — key trap — 想 + a noun means 'miss it', not 'want to have it'.