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的 nya
得 verb + adjective
地 + adverbial + adjectives
对不起。我没有一个同事。这是没有意思。
If you’re learning Chinese grammar, you’re going to see three ‘de’ (的, 得, 地) used
quite often. So what’s the difference between 的, 得, and 地? There’s no simple
English translation for these grammar particles, so we’ll need to walk through them
step by step. Here they are:
Possessive:
的 shows possession the same way (‘s) does in English. It will be placed between
the owner and the object.
(adjective)+ 的 + (noun)
喜欢吃蛋糕的男生 (Xǐ huan chī dàn gāo de nán shēng – Boy who likes to eat cake)
不听话的孩子 (Bù tīng huà de hái zi – Child that doesn’t listen)
Verb + 得 + outcome
他唱歌唱得很不好听 (Tā chàng gē chàng de hěn bù hǎo tīng – He sings very badly)
The two examples above tell the outcome of a verb by using an adjective to evaluate
how the verb was carried out. We can also tell the outcome of a verb by stating
whether or not the verb can be or was successful in being carried out. It can be
used in the positive form like ‘can’ or ‘able to’:
我看得见 (I look 得 see it) (Wǒ kàn de jiàn – I’m able to see it)
However, though 得 can be used to express ‘can’ or ‘able to’, it cannot be used to
express the negative form: ‘can’ or ‘can’t’. For the negative form, 得 should be
replaced with 不.
Adjective + 地 + verb
他慢慢地走过来 (Tā màn man de zǒu guò lái – He slowly walked over)
她开开心心地回答 (Tā kāi kāi xīn xīn de huí dá – She joyfully answered)