Result Complement 得到

Question

The following sentence uses 到 as a result complement but I don't understand why it to has 得 before 到。

他们都想得到比现在更多的东西

Any help identifying the grammar on this one would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

得 = get

The result complement 到 indicate "successfully"

得到 = get/ obtain (successfully)

得 and 到 in '得到' (v + result complement) are tightly bonded. It is treated as an inseparable compound word at the level of words like 獲得 (obtain) or 得以 (able to)

Simply put:

得到 = 獲得 = get/ obtain

Answer 2

Possibly off topic, but:

The meaning of 他们都想得到比现在更多的东西 should be considered in context, and could be very different.

#1

尽管他们已经探过整个洞穴，也拿到了不少宝物，但他们/都/想/得到(de2 dao4)/比/现在/更多的/东西。
they all want to get more than what they have now.

#2

(see edit) 如果他们知道这些情况，他们/都/想得到(xiang3 de5 dao4)/比/现在/更多的/东西，也就不会妄自行动了。
they can all figure out more than what we currently have thought. grammar reference

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Edit

the above answer is posted several days ago and I found I made a mistake messing up “的” and “得”, after reviewing my answer.

In the second case, should be “想的到” in stead of “想得到”。 The word starts from “想到” and adding a 的 in the middle indicates the ability of doing something，so “想的到” means being able to figure out.