的 de — possessive and modifying particle: ’s, of

Meanings

1. 1

   possessive and modifying particle: ’s, of

   The most frequent word in Mandarin. It links whatever describes a noun to the noun itself, and the order is always modifier + 的 + noun: 我的书 my book, 老师的名字 the teacher’s name.

   particle
2. 2

   the one that… (turning a phrase into a noun)

   particle

   When the noun is obvious, it is simply left out: 这本书是我的 "this book is mine", 大的很好 "the big one is good".

Example sentences

• 那是老师的猫。/那是老師的貓。Nà (fourth tone, falling) shì (fourth tone, falling) lǎoshī (third tone, dipping) de (neutral tone) māo. (first tone, high and level)···

  That’s the teacher’s cat.

• 他是一个很好的人。/他是一個很好的人。Tā (first tone, high and level) shì (fourth tone, falling) yí (second tone, rising) ge (neutral tone) hěn (third tone, dipping) hǎo (third tone, dipping) de (neutral tone) rén. (second tone, rising)···

  He’s a very good person.

Common mistakes

• Not quite书的我

  Correct我的书

  The owner always comes first: possessor + 的 + thing. 书的我 reads as "the me that belongs to the book".

• Not quite我的妈妈的名字

  Correct我妈妈的名字

  With close family, 的 is normally dropped after the pronoun: 我妈妈, 我家, 我朋友. Keeping every 的 sounds heavy.

Similar words