哈囉，大家好！ 哈啰，大家好！
I’m Grace from Grace Mandarin Chinese
「的」is a very important function word in Chinese
but it tends to cause some confusion
because sometimes we use it
and sometimes we don’t use it
while basically expressing the same meaning.
So in today’s video,
we’re going to figure out
why sometimes native Chinese speakers leave out the 的
By knowing this, you can also make your Chinese sound more natural
Before we go into the details,
let’s first review the basic use of 的：
的 can be used to show possession,
and the common structure is
For example,
的 can also be used
when you want to describe a noun or
to add more details to the noun.
The structure would be:
The description can be adjectives, time words, or phrases, etc.
For example,
So you can see that as a function word,
的 can be used to show the relationships between words.
However, let’s take a look at the following examples:
To say “new phone”,
we can either say 新的手機 or 新手機
To say “my father”,
Other than saying 我的爸爸,
we can also say 我爸爸
If whether to use 的
is completely the same in every aspect,
then there is no need for both of them
to exist in the language, right?
So now let’s take a look at the difference between them:
Generally speaking, when using 的,
you can think of A and B as two individual parts.
For example,
It’s used like a phrase.
And since 新鮮 (fresh) and 水果 (fruit) are
considered two individual parts,
we can even add some words
to modify either of them,
for example we can say,
We can add “很 very” before the adjective 新鮮,
and “一籃 a basket” before the noun 水果,
and say 很新鮮的一籃水果
to express “a basket of (very) fresh fruit”.
However, you might also hear people say
“新鮮水果” without using 的,
so why is this?
When we omit “的”,
you may notice that these two individual parts stick together.
In this case, they are considered as a single unit
and function more like a compound word.
Since we’re using it as a word,
we can even use adjectives to modify it,
for example,
So remember,
when we leave out the function word 的,
the words are combined and treated as one unit.
Here are some examples of words often used without 的：
Can you guess why they don’t need 的?
It's because we use these words frequently
in our daily conversations.
When we talk about them,
they naturally work together as a single unit,
so 的 isn’t needed.
Here are situations where 的 is often omitted:
First, when it involves relationships with others
like when talking about family members or significant others.
Here are some examples:
Second, when talking about a group
where you or others belong to,
such as family, school or the workplace.
For example,
When referring to a group,
we tend to use plural pronouns
because there are usually many people involved.
The third situation where 的 is often omitted
is when one-character adjectives
are modifying nouns by themselves.
Here are some examples:
In these three situations,
的 tends to be omitted,
but sometimes you might hear
people adding the function word “的” to them,
for example,
When 的 is added to them,
it is usually to emphasize the word that precedes it.
For example,
when you say 新書, it means “new book”,
but if you want to emphasize the word “新 new”,
you can say “新的書” (NEW book).
Here she adds 的 after 新
because she wants to emphasize that it's the new one she wants.
So, now you know some combinations of words are often used without 的
because they’re frequently lumped together.
Next, let’s move on and talk about
words that are not as commonly used as a unit
In such cases, we typically use 的 to indicate
the relationship between the words,
so it’s easier to understand.
For example,
The tricky part is that
“的" is sometimes omitted in these words.
This happens because when these combinations are used in a sentence,
they can sometimes be treated as one unit,
functioning like a compound word.
Therefore, the “的” can be omitted.
Here are some examples:
In Chinese, we prefer not to use too many 的 in a phrase,
so it sounds unnatural to say 昨天的新聞的頭條.
Here, we know the main noun we want to modify
is the last one 頭條,
so we can drop the 的 between 昨天 and 新聞.
However, if you want to emphasize that
the news is from yesterday,
you can add 的 after 昨天,
but to avoid using too many 的,
you should delete the 的 between 新聞 and 頭條,
considering them as a unit,
and say 昨天的新聞頭條
Alright, I understand that's a lot of information,
so let's do a quick recap:
Generally speaking,
when two words are often used together
as a single unit in both idea and function,
we tend not to use 的 between them,
for example, 我爸爸、我家、他們學校 etc.
We will add 的 when we want to put more emphasis
on the first word,
like if I said 他們的學校,
it emphasizes that it’s “their” school,
not “ours” or “yours”.
For other words less commonly used together as a unit,
we normally add 的 to them,
such as 我的手、昨天的新聞,
but when they’re in a sentence and used as a unit,
the 的 between them can be omitted,
especially when we have too many 的 in a phrase.
Deciding when to use 的 can be a bit tricky, sometimes,
but I believe that today’s lesson is going to help you
start making sense of it all.
I suggest listening and reading more Chinese
so you’ll get the feel of 的.
那如果你喜歡今天的影片， 那如果你喜欢今天的影片，
別忘記按讚、訂閱和分享哦！ 别忘记按赞、订阅和分享哦！
And also, if you’d like to learn some daily Mandarin expressions,
check out my Instagram @gracemandarin
那我們下次見囉！拜拜！ 那我们下次见啰！拜拜！ (I’ll see you next time! Bye!)