More thoughts on 得
A linguist muses. My hypothesis didn't survive after all, but that's the point of research – hypothesis, testing, new facts, revised hypothesis etc. Basically, 得 is a conjunction which means – roughly – "as a consequence; consequently; so; thus". 得 always follows a verb so that if the main verb is transitive, the verb is repeated after the dO. Thus we have such sentences as 他跑得直喘气 ( tā pǎo de zhí chuǎnqì ) "He was running; as a consequence he was out of breath." 他走得脚都软了 ( tā zǒu de jiǎo dōu ruǎn le ) "He was walking; consequently his legs went weak." 他打字打得很快 ( tā dǎzì dǎ de hěn kuài ) "He's typing; as a consequence we can see he's fast." The translations are meant to highlight the structure rather than be stunning examples of the translator's art. The first sentence has dynamic verbs in both clauses and the same subject. The clauses in the second sentence each have a their own subject (他 in the first and 脚 in the second). The ...