Definition
想得到 is a potential complement structure formed by the verb 想 (to think) and the complement 得到 (to get/can), meaning 'to be able to think of, to imagine, to expect'. It is most commonly used in rhetorical questions (often with 谁 'who') to express surprise that something happened — equivalent to 'Who would have thought...?' in English. The negative form 想不到 ('unexpectedly, can't imagine') is even more frequent. Note that in natural speech the pronunciation is xiǎng de dào (with neutral tone on 得), though the dictionary entry lists xiǎng dé.
r.v.
to think ofto imagineto expect (usually in rhetorical questions)
Examples
- 想得到？Shuí xiǎng dé tā huì zuò chū zhè zhǒng shì lái?Who would have thought he would do such a thing?
- 想得到。Wǒ zǎo jiù xiǎng dé nǐ huì chénggōng.I had already expected you would succeed.
- 想得到，。Zhēn xiǎng dé bú dào, tā jìngrán cízhí le.I really can't imagine that he actually resigned.
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