grammatica
Grammar 1 – How to use‘de’
In Chinese, there are three ‘de’s which carry different grammatical functions: 的、得 and 地. Even many advanced learners might still get confused when using them. Here I summarized the usage of them briefly:
1. 的 description + 的 + noun
– possession: 我的书 (wǒ de shū, my book) 、爸爸的车 (bàba de chē, Dad’s car)
– description of a noun (的 ‘de’ can be preceded by an adjective or by a sub-clause):
红色的书 (róngsè de shū, red book)、爸爸买的车 (bàba mǎi de chē, the car that Dad bought)
2. 得 verb + 得 +description
– description of a verb (得 ‘de’ is preceded by a verb and can be followed by a adverb, an adjective or other phrases)
跑得快 (pǎo de kuài, run fast) 、 紧张得睡不着 ( jǐnzhāng de shuì bù zháo, so nervous that can not sleep)
3. 地 adverb + 地 +verb
– description of an action (地 ‘de’ is used between an adverb and a verb)
慢慢地走 (màn man de zǒu, walk slowly) 、大声地笑 (dàshēng de xiào, laugh loudly)
Is it clearer now? And you need more exercises of course.
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