的, 地 and 得: the three de
的, 地 and 得 are all said de, with a neutral tone. Which one you write depends on its job in the sentence.
The essentials
- 的 links a description or owner to a noun: 我的书, 很大的房子, 我昨天买的那本书.
- Close family and your own groups usually drop 的: 我妈妈, 我们学校.
- 地 links a description to a verb: 认真地学习 (study hard).
- 得 comes after a verb and says how well or how much: 他说得很好, 你跑得太快了.
Every lesson on this topic
Each lesson has a full explanation, examples in characters and pinyin you can listen to, and exercises with answers.
A1 (the A1 course)
- 的: my, your, the teacher's: 我的书, 老师的名字, 很大的房子, but 我妈妈 without 的.
A2 (the A2 course)
- 得: how well, how fast: 他说得很好, 你跑得太快了, 他说中文说得很好: describing how someone does something.
- 的, 地 and 得: three ways to write de: 漂亮的衣服, 认真地学习, 跑得很快: all three are said de; the one you write depends on its job.
B2 (the B2 course)
- Long descriptions before a noun: 我昨天买的那本书: Everything that describes a noun goes before it, linked by 的, in a fixed order.
In the app, these lessons are taught one idea at a time with audio, practised with questions you can answer in characters or pinyin, and brought back for review.
Other topics
- 了 (le) in Chinese, explained
- Chinese measure words
- The 把 (bǎ) sentence, explained
- 被 (bèi) and the passive in Chinese
- 是…的 (shì…de): when, where and how
- Comparisons with 比 (bǐ)
- 过 (guò) and 着 (zhe): experience and ongoing states
- Chinese complements: result, direction and potential
- Questions in Chinese: 吗, question words and particles
- 不 (bù) or 没 (méi): negation in Chinese
- Chinese conjunctions: because, although, if
- Chengyu: Chinese four-character idioms
- Chinese numbers, dates and time
- Chinese tones and pinyin