Chinese grammar 语法: Result complements 到dao and 见jian

Two of the most common result complements in Chinese are 到 (dào) and 见 (jiàn). Both can be used in similar statements.

Structure
Result complements are a huge topic in Chinese grammar, but you can approach them in stages. The structure you come across the most is a verb with 到 (dào):

What 到 does is indicate that the outcome of the verb is achieved - what its result is. Without a result complement, the sentence would describe only the action itself. To illustrate, 想 "to think" is the action of thinking, wheras 想到 "to think (of something)" is a the result of that process.

The complement 见 is very similar to 到, and it is used in the same way:
subject+verb+见+object

However, 见 is generally only used after verbs involving sense, like 听 and 看, wheras 到 can be attached to a large variety of verbs.

Examples

Wǒ mǎi dào le yī xiē lónɡ xiā.
我 买 到 了 一 些 龙虾。

I bought some lobsters.

As in the last sentence, this structure can be negated using 没.