Learn Chinese for Free—Lesson 31
Today's Chinese characters:
父母亲
妈妈 is the colloquial word for 'mother' (mummy, mum, ma). Today you're going to learn how to address her, and your father, in a more formal way.
| Character Knowledge Meter |
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31.8%
Today with this lesson your knowledge of Chinese characters will reach 31.8% of all the Chinese language usage! |
Characters' Essentials
Description and Examples
Dialogue 26
Welcome back our dear number one most frequently used Chinese character!
Let's see how it's used in today's dialogue.
我是你们儿子的朋友
First of all, a little review: 的 is used between a modifier (before 的) and a noun (after 的). A modifier qualifies or modifies a noun and the modified noun is called headword or central word. Sometimes, the structural particle 的 is needed between the modifier and the noun; at other times, however, it is not required. sometimes: MODIFIER + NOUN at other times: MODIFIER + 的 + NOUN When a personal pronoun is used as modifier and the headword is a word for relatives, parts of the body or units or collectives to which the pronoun belongs, the structural particle 的 may be omitted. |
In our sentence, 的 is omitted when it's said "你们儿子", because we have here a personal pronoun used as modifier and the headword is a word for relatives.
| 你们: | Modifier |
| 儿子: | Headword |
As you can see below, however, when this pronoun-headword construction itself is used as modifier, 的 cannot be omitted.
你们儿子的朋友
| 你们儿子: | Modifier |
| 朋友: | Headword |
In English we'd say "the friend of your son" or "your son's friend".
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