{attributive} |
的 |
hao3 |
very/good |
好 |
||||
shu1 |
book |
書 |
mang2 |
busy |
忙 |
|||
text book |
課本 |
happy |
快樂 |
|||||
che1 |
car |
車子 |
pretty |
漂亮 |
||||
jia1 |
family |
家 |
red |
紅色 |
||||
student |
學生 |
green |
綠色 |
|||||
ren2 |
person |
人 |
blue |
藍色 |
As in English, Mandarin descriptors come right before the thing they describe. There are a few differences between Chinese and English adjective phrases, though. For one, Mandarin uses a special particle (de) to separate the descriptions from the thing being described.
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Mandarin Grammar Lesson 5
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Note that some adjectives do not require the de particle, although it is still grammatically correct to use it even in these cases. It just won't sound like native speech. Colors in particular are often used without the de.
Chinese adjective phrases can be very complex, combining long series of descriptions and varying types of modifiers. More will be said on this in a later lesson.
In English, words change form to show possession (thief's painting), ownership (collector's painting), and relationship (thief's mother). Most words add a form of (-'s). Some words, like many pronouns, undergo more drastic changes, like "my" becomes "mine." Additionally, some words have different possessive forms depending on whether they are the subject or object of the sentence.
brother |
-> |
brother's |
I |
-> |
my |
me |
-> |
mine |
||
sisters |
-> |
sisters' |
they |
-> |
their |
them |
-> |
theirs |
Chinese words do not change form. Instead, possession is treated the same way as any adjective phrase. The possessive noun or pronoun goes on the left, the particle de goes in the middle, and the object goes on the right. This is true whether the possessive is acting as the subject or object of the sentence.
Note that if the object being described is understood, it can often be omitted. For example, if all the objects on a table were books, you won't have to say "Gei3 wo3 na4 ben3 shu1" ('give that book to me') you could simply say "Gei3 wo3 na4 ben3" ('give me that one').
Possession or ownership almost always require the use of of de. On the other hand, showing relationship often allows the de to be omitted, although it is still correct to include de. Family terms are great examples of this: "my mother" can be expressed either " wo3 de ma4 ma3" or "wo3 ma4 ma3".
Sometimes including or omitting the de particle makes a slight difference in the meaning of an adjective phrase. For example, a hong2 (se4) bi3 can be understood to be a "red pen" (perhaps used to refer to a teacher's correcting pen) while hong2 se4 de bi3 would be understood to be "a pen that is red" or "pens that are red". While the difference between these terms are slight, there can be a difference in meaning.
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