我夹菜夹不上来。
I can’t pick up my food (with chopsticks).
我吃不下了。
I can’t eat anymore.
In these two sentences, the negative form of potential complements is used. A potential complement is usually formed by inserting the structural particle "得" between the verb and the complement of result, e.g. "夹得上来","吃得下",which mean certain results, in this case, "pick up food with chopsticks" and "eat", can be attained. The negative form is to replace "得" with "不",e.g. "夹不上来","吃不下". It means the results cannot be attained.
Verb | 得/不 | Complement |
---|---|---|
夹 | 不 | 上来 |
pick | not | up |
吃 | 不 | 下 |
eat | not | down |