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particle HSK 1
de
possessive particle · adjectival particle · nominalizing particle

Meaning

的 is the most common particle in Mandarin Chinese. It primarily marks possession (like 's in English) and links adjectives or descriptive phrases to nouns. It also nominalizes phrases, turning verb phrases or clauses into noun phrases.

Usage

Native speakers use 的 constantly in everyday speech. It appears between a modifier and the noun being modified (我的书 'my book'), after adjectives (红色的车 'red car'), and to create noun phrases from clauses. However, 的 is often omitted with close relationships (我妈妈, not 我的妈妈) and single-syllable adjectives modifying nouns (新书, not 新的书).

Examples

  1. 01
    这是我的书。
    Zhè shì wǒ de shū.
    This is my book.
  2. 02
    她买了一件漂亮的衣服。
    Tā mǎi le yī jiàn piàoliang de yīfu.
    She bought a beautiful piece of clothing.

Common collocations

  • 我的
    wǒ de
    my, mine
  • 你的
    nǐ de
    your, yours
  • 好的
    hǎo de
    good one; okay
  • 红色的
    hóngsè de
    red (one)

Origin

Originally written as 底 in classical Chinese, representing an arrow target or base. The simplified character 的 became standardized for this grammatical function.

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