promise · Mandarin · 答应 / 许诺 / 承诺

Promiser, Promisee, Theme · Mandarin marking · working claim, revisable

Four verbs, and two arrangement forms. The seventh edition of 现代汉语词典 files 答应 as 〈动〉. The pinyin on that page is printed with a dot, dā·ying. English Wiktionary records a toneless final syllable, dāying, beside dāyìng. 两岸通用词典, Taiwan text, prints dāyìng and zhuyin ㄧㄥˋ. This page uses the seventh edition’s neutral tone on 应 and records the Taiwan fourth tone where that book prints it. 许诺 xǔnuò, 承诺 chéngnuò, and 保证 bǎozhèng are the other three. 说好 shuōhǎo and the form 约好 yuēhǎo are the arranged commitment. CC-CEDICT, as MDBG serves it, fetched 2026-10-12, has a headword 说好 and no headword 约好. No telicity claim is made from 了, from 过, or from the classifier 个 on the noun 保证.

答应 has an answer sense and a consent sense. Seventh edition sense 1 is 应声回答: 喊了好几声，也没有人答应. 两岸, Taiwan text, prints 叫门无人答应，可能都出去了. That is an answer to a call. It is not a pledge. Sense 2 is 应允；同意: 他起初不肯，后来答应了. The line has a refusal first and an agreement after it. No VP and no person are in that example. 重编国语辞典修订本 sense 3 is 允许、同意, and the line 大家不答应 likewise has no VP. CC-CEDICT glosses the word “to answer; to respond / to answer positively; to agree; to accept; to promise.” English Wiktionary splits “to agree; to say yes; to allow; to permit” from “to promise.” The consent reading is the responsive one: someone has asked, and the subject agrees. The initiated pledge is the other gloss. The dictionaries do not print both readings in one clause.

The pledged act of 答应, when a complement is printed, is a VP. 两岸, Taiwan text, sense 2 prints 我答应借给她 and 学校答应重新安排他的工作. 借给她 is the VP. 她 is the person after 给, inside 借给. 重新安排他的工作 is the other VP. 他 is inside 他的工作. Neither line is a bare person after 答应 and then a bare thing. English promise her a book is that bare pair. A bare second object of 答应 is unprinted in the articles opened.

Control. Working claim, revisable. The sources do not use the word. In 我答应借给她 the one who lends is 我, the subject of 答应. In 学校答应重新安排他的工作 the one who rearranges the work is 学校. 他 is not the one who acts. English Wiktionary’s “allow; permit” is a separate gloss from “promise,” and the seventh edition’s sense 2 is 应允；同意. A line that puts a bare person after 答应 and makes that person the one who acts is unprinted. This page does not file an object-control frame from a sentence the dictionaries do not print.

许诺 is the formal pledge of a later act, and the person is not a bare object. The seventh edition is 〈动〉答应；应承, and the example is 他许诺过的事情一定会办到. 事情 is one nominal, the thing promised. 过 is on 许诺. This page does not read 过 as a telicity claim. 两岸, Taiwan text, sense 1 prints 他曾许诺将来把女儿嫁给我 and 刚许诺不久，他就反悔了. 将来把女儿嫁给我 is a 把-VP. 给我 is inside 嫁. The subject 他 is the one who would marry the daughter off. Sense 2 is the noun, 许诺的话, and the example is 实现对她的许诺. 对她 modifies the noun 许诺. It is not a preverbal PP of a finite 许诺. CC-CEDICT glosses the verb “to promise; to pledge” and does not print a clause. A bare person plus a bare thing after 许诺 is unprinted.

承诺 is the formal undertaking. The seventh edition is 〈动〉对某项事务答应照办, example 慨然承诺. 对某项事务 introduces the matter, 事务, not a person. The example fills neither the matter nor a person. 两岸, mainland text, is 接受并答应（做某事）；也指所做出的应允, examples 双方承诺不使用武力 and 履行自己的承诺. 不使用武力 is a VP. The subject 双方 is who would not use force. 承诺 in 履行自己的承诺 is the noun, object of 履行. The definition writes 所做出的应允. 做出 is in that wording. A separate example sentence 做出承诺 is not on the page. The Taiwan text prints the nominals 许下承诺 and 口头承诺不可靠, and 履行自己的承诺 again. 许下承诺 has 承诺 as the noun after 许下. 重编国语辞典 prints 做不到的事情，不要轻易承诺. 事情 is the topic. No person is in the clause. CC-CEDICT glosses “to promise / to undertake to do something / commitment,” verb and noun in one entry. A bare second object is unprinted. A preverbal 向, 对, or 给 plus a person before 承诺 is unprinted in the articles opened. The seventh edition’s 向 is a preposition of direction, 向东走 and 向先进工作者学习, and that entry does not name 承诺 or 许诺.

保证 is the guarantee, and one of its clauses has its own subject. Seventh edition sense 1 is 〈动〉担保；担保做到: 我们保证提前完成任务. 提前完成任务 is a VP. The subject 我们 is who finishes the task. Sense 2 is 〈动〉确保既定的要求和标准，不打折扣: 保证产品质量 and 保证科研时间. Those are nominals. Sense 3 is the noun, 作为担保的事物: 党的领导是我们各项事业取得胜利的根本保证. 是 is the copula. 根本保证 is the predicate nominal. 两岸, both texts, prints 我敢保证，他明天一定会来. 他 is the subject of 会来. The guarantor is the subject of 敢保证, and that subject is not 他. The same articles print 他的名号就是信用的保证, again 是 plus the noun. English Wiktionary glosses the verb “to assure; to guarantee; to ensure; to keep” and prints 保证稳定供货 and 我们承诺保证您的信息绝对保密. 您 is inside 您的信息. The subject 我们 is who promises the keeping. CC-CEDICT glosses “guarantee / to guarantee / to ensure / to safeguard / to pledge” and gives the classifier 个. The classifier is for the noun. No telicity claim is made from it. A bare person plus a bare thing after 保证 is unprinted.

说好 and 约好 are the arranged commitment. 重编国语辞典 files 说好 as 商妥、谈成 and prints 这事，我们已经说好了. 这事 is the matter, before the subject 我们. No VP and no second person are in that line. CC-CEDICT glosses “to come to an agreement / to complete negotiations.” 两岸 说定 is glossed 说好，约定；不再改变 and prints 大家说定了，明天8点准时在这里集合出发. 明天8点准时在这里集合出发 is the act. The subject 大家 is who gathers. The seventh edition does not, in the pages opened, give 说好 its own headword. The form 约好 is inside the entry 约. Sense 1 is 〈动〉提出或商量（须要共同遵守的事）, and the examples include 约好五点钟见面. 五点钟见面 is the VP. No subject is spelled in that snippet. 约定 prints 大家约定明天在公园会面. 相约 prints 他们相约明年春节聚会. The subjects are plural, and the act is a meeting. A separate CC-CEDICT headword 约好 was not found. A bare second object is unprinted on these lines.

Raising. Unclear. No article opened prints an inanimate subject of 答应, 许诺, 承诺, or 保证 with a weather complement, and none uses the word raising. 我敢保证，他明天一定会来 is a clause with its own subject. It is not an inanimate forecast. English it promises to rain is that forecast on the English page. This page does not say the Mandarin verbs lack it. The dictionaries opened here do not show it.

Copular coercion. Working claim, revisable. The pledge stays on the verb: 答应, 许诺, 承诺, and 保证 are 〈动〉 in the seventh edition, and 他许诺过的事情 keeps 过 on the verb. The noun 保证 has a printed copula. 党的领导是我们各项事业取得胜利的根本保证 and 他的名号就是信用的保证 are 是 plus 保证. The arrangement has a printed state. Seventh edition 约 sense 3 is the noun 约定的事, and the examples include 有约在先. 成约 prints 有约在先，谁也不能变卦. 有 is the verb. 约 is the noun. 是…说好的 is unprinted in the articles opened. 答应过 is unprinted. The experiential mark that is printed is 许诺过, and it is on the verb. Japanese 有望だ is a state on the Japanese page. Mandarin’s printed state in these articles is 有约在先, not a forecast built on 答应.

Li and Thompson, Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar, was not opened for these headwords. No page number is taken from it. 现代汉语八百词 was not opened as a labeled article for 答应, 许诺, 承诺, 保证, 说好, or 约. The 给 already on 借 is a different verb.

Where this frame diverges from English promise. English promise her a book is one bare person and one thing. 我答应借给她 puts 她 inside the VP 借给. 他曾许诺将来把女儿嫁给我 puts 我 inside 嫁. 实现对她的许诺 puts 她 on the noun. The seventh edition’s 对 on 承诺 is 对某项事务, the matter. A preverbal 向, 对, or 给 plus a person before 许诺 or 承诺 is unprinted, and so is a bare second object of each verb opened here. 他起初不肯，后来答应了 is consent after a refusal. 我们保证提前完成任务 keeps the act with the subject. 我敢保证，他明天一定会来 gives the clause its own subject. 有约在先 is 有 plus a noun. Finnish luvata spells the person with the allative. Swedish lova prints a bare second nominal. Japanese 約束する prints に for a one-directional person.