V下去 / V出来 / V起来: figurative meanings
补语 / complements
Tone colorsā tone 1á tone 2ǎ tone 3à tone 4a neutral
Directional complements have very common abstract meanings at level 4:
• 下去 = carry on with something already started: 说下去、坚持下去.
• 出来 = make something appear, identify, produce: 看出来 (notice), 听出来 (recognise by sound), 想出来 (come up with).
• 起来 = start (笑起来), recall (想起来), or assess an impression (看起来、听起来).
Classic trap: 想出来 = come up with a new idea; 想起来 = remember something.
Examples
研究很难，但我们一定要做下去。
Yánjiū hěn nán, dàn wǒmen yídìng yào zuò xiàqu.Research is hard, but we must keep going.
你看得出来这是真的还是假的吗？
Nǐ kàn de chūlái zhè shì zhēn de háishi jiǎ de ma?Can you tell whether this is real or fake?
他终于想出来一个好办法。
Tā zhōngyú xiǎng chūlái yí ge hǎo bànfǎ.He finally came up with a good solution.
我想起来了，我们见过面！
Wǒ xiǎng qǐlái le, wǒmen jiàn guo miàn!I remember now: we've met before!
Common mistakes
✗ 我想出来他的名字了。→ a name you knew: ✓ 我想起来他的名字了。
✗ 坚持下来 vs 坚持下去: 下来 = held out until now (looking back); 下去 = will keep going.