{"id":3017,"date":"2019-10-29T23:13:51","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T23:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-grammar\/key-chinese-grammar-structure-modifier-de-noun-de\/"},"modified":"2019-10-29T23:13:51","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T23:13:51","slug":"key-chinese-grammar-structure-modifier-de-noun-de","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/my\/key-chinese-grammar-structure-modifier-de-noun-de\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Chinese grammar structure: modifier + de + noun (\u7684)"},"content":{"rendered":"
This grammar structure is one of the most basic and im<\/em>portant features of Chinese grammar:<\/p>\n

modifier + \u7684 + noun<\/p>\n

This comes up all the time in all sorts of sentences in Chinese. It follows the general rule that what precedes modifies what follows – first the modifier, then \u7684 (de) to l<\/em>ink them, and then the noun.<\/p>\n

Noun + \u7684 + noun<\/p>\n

This may be the most basic grammar structure with \u7684. By placing \u7684 between two nouns, you can indicate possession. That is, the second noun belo<\/em>ngs to the first. Some examples:<\/p>\n

\u4f60\u7684\u8863\u670d
n\u01d0 de y\u012bfú
your clothes
\u5c0f\u674e\u7684\u670b\u53cb
Xi\u01ceo L\u01d0 de péngy\u01d2u
Xiao Li’s friend
\u4ed6\u4eec\u7684\u94b1
t\u0101men de qián
their money
You can think of \u7684 as being similar to ’s (apostrophe s) in English. It marks possession in the same way and appears between the two nouns. More example of \u7684 behaving like ’s:<\/p>\n

\u5c0f\u738b\u7684\u623f\u5b50
Xi\u01ceo Wáng de fángzi
Xiao Wang’s house
\u8d75\u5148\u751f\u7684\u81ea\u884c\u8f66
Zhào Xi\u0101nsh\u0113ng de zìxíngch\u0113
Mr Zhao’s bike
\u8001\u5f20\u7684\u732b
L\u01ceo Zh\u0101ng de m\u0101o
Old Zhang’s cat
And now some full example sentences with \u7684 showing possession between two nouns:<\/p>\n

\u8fd9\u662f\u4f60\u7684\u5417\uff1f
Zhè shì n\u01d0 de ma?
Is this yours?
\u90a3\u662f\u4ed6\u4eec\u7684\u3002
Nà shì t\u0101men de.
It’s theirs.
\u6211\u559c\u6b22\u4f60\u7684\u5e3d\u5b50\u3002
W\u01d2 x\u01d0huan n\u01d0 de màozi.
I like your hat.
This noun + \u7684 + noun structure is one of the most basic grammar structures in Chinese. It should be one of the first structures that learners get familiar with.<\/p>\n

Adjective + \u7684 + noun<\/p>\n

As well as marking actual possession between two nouns, \u7684 is also used to modify things more generally. What it actually does is attach attributes to things.<\/p>\n

One way \u7684 can attach attributes to things is by appearing between an adjective and a noun. This simply l<\/em>inks the adjective to the noun to describe it. Some examples:<\/p>\n

\u7ea2\u8272\u7684\u8863\u670d
hóngsè de y\u012bfu
red clothes
\u597d\u5403\u7684\u83dc
h\u01ceoch\u012b de cài
tasty food
\u6f02\u4eae\u7684\u82b1
piàoliang de hu\u0101
beautiful flowers
You could think of this as literally saying e.g. “red’s clothes” or “clothes that belong to red”. This is the standard way of l<\/em>inking adjectives to nouns in Chinese grammar.<\/p>\n

Some full example sentences for this adjective + \u7684 + noun grammar structure:<\/p>\n

\u6211\u559c\u6b22\u5f88\u8fa3\u7684\u83dc\u3002
W\u01d2 x\u01d0huan h\u011bn là de cài.
I like spicy food.
\u5979\u662f\u4e2a\u5f88\u65e0\u804a\u7684\u4eba\u3002
T\u0101 shì ge h\u011bn wúliáo de rén.
She is a very boring person.
\u8fd9\u662f\u4e00\u79cd\u5f88\u6d53\u7684\u5496\u5561\u3002
Zhè shì yìzh\u01d2ng h\u011bn nóng de k\u0101f\u0113i.
This is a very strong kind of coffee.
By now you can see that \u7684 is a very versatile l<\/em>inking word in Chinese. It appears all over the place, and is generally co<\/em>nsidered the most commo<\/em>nly used Chinese character.<\/p>\n

clause + \u7684 + noun<\/p>\n

Finally, we’ll have a look at a slightly more complicated \u7684 grammar structure. Because \u7684 can be used to attach pretty much anything to anything else, you can use it to l<\/em>ink entire phrases to things. The phrase then becomes a des<\/em>cription or quality.<\/p>\n

This sounds complicated but it will probably become clearer with some examples:<\/p>\n

\u6211\u4e70\u7684\u8336
w\u01d2 m\u01cei de chá
the tea I bought
\u4ed6\u559c\u6b22\u7684\u90a3\u4e2a\u5973\u5b69
T\u0101 x\u01d0huan de nàge n\u01dahái
that girl he likes
\u4f60\u6700\u559c\u6b22\u7684\u989c\u8272
n\u01d0 zuì x\u01d0huan de yánsè
your favourite colour (the colour you like the most)
In those examples, rather than a noun or an adjective, we have a phrase (e.g. \u6211\u4e70 – “I buy”). The phrase is l<\/em>inked to a noun using \u7684, and becomes a des<\/em>cription or attribute of the noun.<\/p>\n

Some more examples of this modifying clause \/ phrase with \u7684:<\/p>\n

\u4ed6\u5f04\u4e22\u7684\ufffd\ufffd\ufffd\u897f
t\u0101 nòng di\u016b de d\u014dngxi
the thing he lost
\u6211\u4e0d\u8ba4\u8bc6\u7684\u4e00\u4e2a\u4eba
w\u01d2 bù rènshi de y\u012bge rén
someone that I don’t know
\u6211\u4eec\u7b2c\u4e00\u6b21\u89c1\u5230\u5f7c\u6b64\u7684\u5730\u65b9
w\u01d2men dì y\u012b cì jiàn dào b\u01d0c\u01d0 dì dìf\u0101ng
the place wher we first met
\u6628\u5929\u8ddf\u6211\u4e00\u5757\u513f\u5403\u996d\u7684\u90a3\u4e2a\u4eba
zuóti\u0101n g\u0113n w\u01d2 y\u012bkuàir ch\u012bfàn dì nàge rén
the person with whom I ate yesterday
Notice how you can attach quite complicated things to a noun using \u7684. That whole complex phrase just becomes an attribute of the noun. Have a look at some full example sentences for this structure:<\/p>\n

\u4ed6\u4eec\u4e70\u7684\u81ea\u884c\u8f66\u5f88\u4fbf\u5b9c\u3002
T\u0101men m\u01cei de zìxíngch\u0113 h\u011bn piányi.
The bike they bought is very cheap.
\u8fd9\u662f\u6211\u770b\u8fc7\u6700\u597d\u770b\u7684\u4e66\u3002
Zhè shì w\u01d2 kànguò zuì h\u01ceo kàn de sh\u016b.
This is the best book I’ve ever read.
\u4f60\u662f\u7b2c\u4e00\u4e2a\u8fd9\u6837\u505a\u7684\u4eba\u3002
N\u01d0 shì dì y\u012b gè zhèyàng zuò de rén.
You are the first person to do it this way.
<\/div>\n