Determiner and determined

In some examples in the previous lesson The interrogative sentence there was a particular character: 的 (de). For example, in the sentence “How do you write your name?”, which in chinese is expressed as “你的名字怎么写?”. This structural particle is perhaps one of the most used characters in Chinese language and it’s the one that defines the relationship between determiner and determined.

In Chinese, everything that defines something (be it an adjective, any specification, a possessive or even a full sentence) should always be placed before the word to which it relates and linked to it with the use of this particle. Since it doesn’t have a proper meaning, in the following examples it will be indicated as ST (structural particle).

If placed after a personal pronoun, 的 specifies the belonging of something.

When there is a close relationship between the determiner and the determined, the particle 的 can be omitted.

我爸爸
wǒ bàba
[I dad]
My dad

The same goes for the adjectives, that are always placed before the noun that they define.

In this type of relationship, if the adjective is a monosyllabic one, it is also possible to omit the particle 的.

一个好人
yīgè hǎorén
[one QU good person]
A good person

Other specifications that may occur as a determiner can be the verbs and the locators. In such cases, in order to fully understand the meaning, it is necessary first to pay attention to what is placed after the particle 的, that is to say the determined, and then to what comes first, as showed in the following examples.

Finally, also a sentence can serve as a determiner.

Sometimes the particle 的 can be replaced by 之 (zhī), a character with the same function that comes from classical Chinese.

中文之美
zhōngwén zhī měi
[Chinese ST beauty]
The beauty of Chinese

Cover background picture by Ali Yahya (unsplash.com)