Modifying nouns with adjective and "de"

Revision as of 08:53, 6 June 2013 by Simingjie (talk | contribs)

One best ways to use the common character 的(de) is to have it spice up your nouns with adjectives.

Structure

A very common way to modify nouns is to attach an adjective to them using 的 (de).

Adjective + 的 + Noun

This structure comes up extremely frequently and is an easy way to attribute features to nouns. Note that if the adjective has two characters (e.g. 漂亮 or 高兴), the 的 is generally required.

Examples

  • 红色 的 气球a red ball
  • 漂亮 的 衣服 beautiful clothes
  • 好看 的a great book
  • 好喝 的 啤酒great-tasting beer

Without the noun

In some cases, it is possible to drop the noun altogether, and just use the adjective + 的. For this to work, there already has to be context, so that the listener can understand what it is referring to. This construction has the feeling of saying "one," as in "the blue one".

Examples

See also

Sources and further reading

Books

HSK3