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I recently said to a native Chinese speaker: "你跑步跑得很快“ ,and then asked him if that sentence was grammatically correct. He said he understood what I was saying, but that he would have said: ”你跑步很快“.

I thought you had to use a complement in such a situation. Which is correct, and why?

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  • proposed ＂跑步跑得很快＂ appears to follow the rule for 程度补语 in the presence of an object,步, since, however 跑步 is a 离合词，this rule may not be followed, in fact note following examples with fronted 名词 at lunwenstudy.com/hanyuyj/46308.html: 觉睡得真香，发理得太短、课上得很好 (this construction also available for V+O in general) which corresponds to 步跑得很快 which in fact can also be found at iciba
    – user6065
    Commented Jan 25, 2019 at 1:34
  • Or, to further emphasize, one can say 跑得比西方记者还快
    – iBug
    Commented Jan 25, 2019 at 4:44
  • 你跑步跑得很快 is perfectly fine grammatically. It's just not seen in casual conversations, and is equivalent to saying Your [way of] running is very fast instead of You run very fast.
    – dROOOze
    Commented Jan 26, 2019 at 1:56

4 Answers 4

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你跑步跑得很快, grammarly correct and common.

你跑步很快 common but odd a little.

你跑得很快 grammarly correct and most common saying.

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"你跑得很快！" would be suffice. It is a complement and grammatically correct.

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  • 3
    你跑步跑得很快 or 你跑步很快 is very precise, It means "you run very fast" 你跑得很快 is a little ambiguous, 跑 can be interpreted differently in different context , for example: 逃跑(escape), 跑開(go away)
    – Tang Ho ♦
    Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 22:37
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你跑步很快 is a [SVO] sentence

你 (you) 跑步(run) 很快 (very fast)

很快 (very fast) is an adverb describing the verb 跑步 (to run)

~

你跑步跑得很快 is a [topic + comment/opinion] sentence

Topic: 你跑步(you run)

Comment/ Opinion: 跑得很快 (run to the degree of very fast)

Within the comment sentence: '跑'(run) is a verb; 得 (to the point of) is a degree complement; 很快 (very fast) is the adverb

Other example of how 'degree complement' works

"你說話說得很過分"

Topic: 你說話 (you talk)

Comment/Opinion: 說得很過分 (talk to the degree of excessively)

Note: the comments: 跑得很快 and 說得很過分 are SOV sentences with the degree complement 得 before the adverb to indicate this adverb describes the degree of the verb.

你跑步很快 (SVO) and 你跑步跑得很快 (topic + comment) means the same thing, -- "you run very fast" ; "you run to the degree of very fast".

The [SVO] sentence put emphasis on the verb '跑步'

The [topic + comment] sentence put emphasis on the topic, '你跑步'

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“跑步” here is a noun means the task/cycle you done of running.
When you use “跑得” after “跑步”, you may want to pointing to the state of his running act/action,
It’s causing conflicts.

“跑” means the act/action or general state of running,
When you use “跑步” instead of “跑”, you are specially pointing to a task/cycle of his running.
If just pointing to a short action or general state, just use “跑”

你跑得很快！

If you are pointing his running cycles, use

你跑步很快

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