Difference between 地 and 得 in 他很難過[得/地]哭起來了

Question

1. 他很難過得哭起來了

2. 他很難過地哭起來了

Which one is correct? 1 makes sense because 得 is describing the extent of how 難過 he is, but 2 also seems to make sense because 地 is just before the verb 哭. So I'm really confused about this. Thanks.

Answer 1

I've made a few modifications to the sentence to show the differences between the two.

1. sense/act + 得 + outcome

• 他難過"得"哭了起來" = He felt bad and started to cry. ("哭了起來" is a result of the feeling "難過".)

2. adj + 地 + v (note: "adj + 地" = "adverb")

• 他"難過地"哭起來了 = He started to cry sadly. ("難過地" is an adverb that modifies the verb "哭".)

Answer 2

Both work here but are subtly different, in many situations they are not interchangable. (It helps me to remember that in most of chinese they are pronounced completely differently, and the mixing up of the three "de" is completely a modern mandarin problem).

Difference is something like "He is so sad he began to sob." vs "He started very sadly sobbing."

So, in this situation they are almost the same in meaning. They are different structures though (◐‿◑)

Answer 3

Both OK.

Something like this:

1. 他很難過得哭起來了 = 他很难过,所以哭了.

2. 他很難過地哭起來了 = 他哭得很难过.