Modifying nouns with phrase + "de"

As well as attaching adjectives to nouns, 的 (de) can be used to attach whole phrases to nouns. In English this is often achieved with "who" or "that", e.g. in "The man who went to Beijing" or "The book that I bought yesterday". The structure in Chinese is:

Phrase + 的 + Noun

Here a phrase means Verb + (Object).

Some examples:

• 去 北京 的 火车。
• 今天 来 的 人。
• 昨晚 喝 太多 啤酒 的 那 个 人。

See also

• Modifying nouns with adjective + de
• Expressing possession

Sources and further reading

Books

• Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar (pp. 76) →buy