Abstract: There are three marks of complements which form predicate complement structures. They are “De(得)”, “Lai(来)” and “Delai(得来)”. These three marks are multifunctional and they appear in structures with the can complement, the modal complement and complement of degree. This paper aims to find the differences among the three marks which is based on describing and explaining the present use of them in Shanghai dialect from the aspects of syntactic diffusion, historical sources and levels, language contact and so on.

Key words: Shanghai dialect, combined type, predicate complement structure, "Delai(得来)", mark of complement