Tag: Chinese Grammar

In Chinese, possession is marked with the particle 的 (de). This particle works in a similar way to ‘s (apostrophe s) in English, but is used much more widely.

StructureNormally possession is expressed with the particle 的. However, in some cases you can omit 的. This happens when the possession is about:
1. A close personal relationship (family and close friends)
2. An institutional or organizational relationship
In these cases 的 should be omitted (that is, it doesn’t sound as natural if you put it in).

Chinese Rhetorical questions with "nandao"Rhetorical questions use the form of a question to emphasize a point, and as such the question does not require an answer. A typical English rhetorical question might be: "you’re not saying you actually believe him are you?". In Chinese, 难道 (nándào) is used as a marker to form this kind of question. Note that 难道 can only be used for rhetorical questions which could be answered with yes or no, and generally end with 吗.

This is one of the simplest of all Chinese particles, one which you probably encountered in Chapter 1 of your textbook. The mother of all Newbie conundrums: 了.