USES OF 的 DE

(1)        To use after pronouns and nouns (tantamount to possession)

             我的名字        大夫的车                                谁的书

             My name          the doctor‘s car                        whose book

             我的                他的                                        谁的

              mine                 his                                           whose

             老师的书                                            图书馆的词典

              the teacher‘s book                               the library’s dictionary

(2a)      Attributive + DE makes a noun phrase, with the noun been understood, (Practical  Chinese I p.200) as:-

            小的                小的（宿舍）                        小的（车）

            ‘small ones’      meaning ‘small hostels’  or ‘small cars’

            好的                好的（宿舍）                        好的（学生）

            ‘good ones’      meaning ‘good hostels’ or ‘good students’

             现在的                                                中国的

            ‘present day ones’                                ‘Chinese ones’

(2b)      Attributives + DE can particularize a noun in order to put more emphasis on the  attribute (Pr. Ch. I p.200) (tantamount to ‘something that is--’)

            (a) 这本书大                           ‘This book is large’

            whilst (b) 这本书是大的         ‘This book is a large one’.

            (c) 大宿舍                               ‘a large hostel’

            whilst (d) 大的宿舍                 ‘a hostel that is large’

            (e) 大的宿舍好，小的宿舍不好‘Hostels that are large are good, hostels that are small are not’                                                                     

            or (f) 大的宿舍好，小的不好 ‘Large hostels are good, small ones are not’.

             (g) 我有一本英文的词典       ‘I have a dictionary that is in English, and I am going           我去买一本法文的            to buy one that is in French’

(3)        Verbal phrases or clauses + DE modifies the noun that follows it (tantamount to             relative clauses) (Practical Chinese I p.363)

            今天来的学生                        Students who came today

            吸烟的孩子                            Children who smoke

            他看的书                                books that he read 

            我认识的字                            characters that I know

            她介绍的朋友                        A friend that she introduced

            她请的客人                            Guests that she invited

(3b)      Such relative clauses can be embedded in a sentence

            我学我不认识的汉字            I am learning characters that I do not know 

            我买老师介绍的书                I buy the book that the teacher recommended

            这是他给我的词典                This is the dictionary that he gave me

             我看的书都很好                    The books that I read were all very good

            我们请的客人都喝茶            The guests that we invited all drink tea

(3c)      ‘(verb) de ren’...... 的人  ‘The people who......’ equivalent to English -er/-ers

            Readers                                    看书的人

            tea drinker                                喝茶的人 

            smokers                                   吸烟的人

(3d)      DE can attach co-verb clauses/phrases to nouns to particularize them (co-verbs being 給 gei  在  zai and others)

            给老师的苹果                        Apple for the teacher

            给妈妈的电话                        Phone call for mother

            在我学院的图书馆                the library in my college

            在我宿舍的学生                    students in my hostel

(3e)      DE is used to attach all kinds of modifier phrases to a noun to particularize it

            The 8 o‘clock bus                     八点的车

            The pictures in the newspaper               报上的书 

            The students studying abroad at present            现在的留学生

(4)        DE is used to tie together binomial modifier to the nouns modified

            A polite student                        客气的学生

            A pretty picture                        好看的画

            A very good book                    很好的书

N.B.     but not with hen duo ‘many’ which does not use a de

            Many friends   很多朋友         many students   很多学生

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N.B.     When DE is omitted:

(1)        de is sometimes omitted when personal pronouns modify words denoting people in close relationship

            My mother   我妈妈                His brother   他哥哥

(2)        when a noun is used to modify another noun

            Student hostel   学生宿舍        Bank manager   银行经理

(3)        Especially when the first noun is the name of a country, a language or a place of  origin

            A Chinese   中国人

            Chinese language teacher   汉语老师

            Foreign languages Institute   外语学院

            An English book   英国书

            A Chinese map   中国地图

(4)        DE is also omitted when the modifier and modified fuse together into one concept

            大国  is a ‘large country/superpower’ whilst  大的国 is simply ‘a country that is            large.