chain construction as subject

[freefall]

Are the following sentences correct in Chinese?

他需要勇气克服这个困难。

He needs bravery to overcome this difficulty.

勇气克服困难很少见。

(The) bravery to overcome difficulty is rare.

The second one seems wrong to me but I just want to double-check. In English it's possible to use this kind of chain construction (bravery to overcome...) as a subject.

[Lu]

You can make chains in Chinese too, but you'd usually use a 的 somewhere in it. For your second sentence, I would say 克服[困難]的勇气困难很少见. The first also seems to miss something, but I'm not sure what. Perhaps a more advanced or native speaker can tell more.

[muyongshi]

克服[困難]的勇气困难很少见

I think it should read 克服困难的勇气很少见

On the first one you need to add a verb for the 勇气 such as to have

他需要有勇气克服这个困难 and you should also add a linking word of some sort like 才 or 就 and 才 seems to convey the meaning more so it would read 他需要有勇气才能克服这个困难

[trien27]

1. 他需要勇气克服这个困难。

He needs bravery to overcome this difficulty.

should be:

他需要拥有勇气来克服这个困难。来 is used for a close by situation.

He needs bravery to overcome this difficulty. [situation is close by]

or

他需要拥有勇气去克服这个困难。 去 is used for a remote situation

He needs bravery to overcome this difficulty. [remote situation]

2.勇气克服困难很少见。

(The) bravery to overcome difficulty is rare.

Should be:

用勇气来克服困难很少见。

Using bravery to overcome difficulty is rarely seen [nowadays]. 来 is used if it's a situation close by to you.

or

用勇气去克服困难很少见。

Using bravery to overcome difficulty is rarely seen [nowadays]. 去 is used if it's a remote situation from you.

Notice: In English, both sentences are the same: Using bravery to overcome difficulty is rarely seen [nowadays].

[freefall]

Interesting. So just to confirm, you need 有; i.e. this is incorrect?

他需要勇气才能克服这个困难.

[muyongshi]

Yes as trien used 拥有 which is very specifc and not always necessary in more spoken forms but either 拥有 or 有 would make the sentence complete.

Just looking at your sentences I can't describe what grammar rule it follows but both what trien and I suggested make it feel more like what a native speaker would say. For the other additions it just depends on what the innuendo of the situation is in terms of which one you say.

[freefall]

What about other nouns like, say, money.

他需要钱才能克服这个困难。

Or does it have to be 他需要有钱才能克服这个困难 ?

[Lu]

他需要有钱才能克服这个困难 certainly has a better 'feel'. Can't quite tell why or what the rule is though. I think you can use other verbs as well here, like 賺.

他需要钱才能克服这个困难 to me looks like it means 'He can only overcome his difficulties if he needs money', which is not what you mean to say.