When it comes to Chinese learning, one of the bigger challenges for Chinese learners is to know when to use 的, 得 or 地. It is easy to confuse them and even I made the mistake before in my videos to use the wrong character. So if you feel like you just can’t get these characters right, know, that you’re not alone, but hopefully after reading my tips here today, you will have a much easier time to figure out when to use which ‘de’.

如何正确地使用“的，得，地”，是很多中文学习者遇到的难题之一。这三个“的，得，地”非常容易混淆，甚至作为母语者的我也犯过同样的错误。不过相信读完今天的推文，你会有一个非常清晰的答案。

There is a simple way to differentiate between these 3 characters:

有一个很简单的法则去区分这三个“的，得，地”

• when you refer to a noun, use: 的

  名词前用：的

• when you refer to an adjective, use : 得

  形容词前用：得

• when you refer to a verb, use : 地

  动词前用：地

I’ve uploaded a video about it this week, which you you can watch here:

这周我上传了一个关于“的，得，地”用法的视频，点击此链接可以查看

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But let’s get into a bit more details:

下面我们来详细聊一聊关于它们的用法：

的

的 is the most widely use character out of the 3, so the most common mistake that Chinese learners make is that they use this character instead of 得 or 地.

“的”是这三个字中最常用的一个，所以关于它的用法错误也是最多的。

It is mostly used to indicate possession (我的电脑 - my computer) , but we can also use it when we want to connect an adjective (漂亮 - beautiful) to a noun (漂亮的老师 - beautiful teacher). Note that in the second example 的 doesn’t indicate possession, but in both cases 的 is referring to a noun (电脑，老师),

它经常被用来表示一种所属关系，比如：我的电脑。当我们想要用一个形容词描述一个名词时也用它，比如：漂亮的老师。在第二个例子中“漂亮”和“老师”并不是一种所属关系，但两个例子中讨论的对象都是名词。

But let’s take a look at another example: Zoe的臭脚 - Zoe’s stinky feet. In this example we have an adjective (臭 - stinky) and a noun (脚 - feet), so we still have to use 的 and not 得 because it refers to the noun (Zoe’s feet), and we use the adjective 臭 to describe the noun too (stinky feet).

我们再来看另一个例子：Zoe的臭脚。在这个句子中同时有形容词“臭”和名词“脚”，但是我们使用的仍然是“的”，而不是“得”，是因为我们讨论的对象依旧是“脚”，“臭”这个形容词只是在修饰“脚”。

得

We use 得 to refer to an adjective, for example:

形容词前用“得”，比如：

Lily舞跳得很不好 - Lily’s dancing is bad.

Here we connected a verb (跳 - dance) to an adjective (不好 - bad) using 得.

在这个句子中“不好”是形容词，所以在它和“跳”中间用“得”。

她穿得很丑。 / 她穿的很丑。 - Here we can choose to use 的 or 得 depending on what we mean. If we want to refer to the clothes she’s wearing (她穿的（衣服）很丑) we can just use 的 even though the noun (衣服) is hidden in the sentence. But if you want to refer to the action (穿) with an adjective (丑) we use 得. Note that in English translation there might not be much of a difference (She’s wearing ugly clothes.).

在这个例子中，我们用“的”还是“得”，取决于我们要表达的具体意思，如果我们想要说的是她穿的（衣服）很丑，那用“的”，因为“衣服”是个名词。如果我们要用“丑”去形容“穿”这个动词，那用“得”。虽然翻译为英文可能没有太大的区别，但是在中文语境里两个句子侧重表达的意思有所不同。

地

地 refers to a verb, and it connects an adjective to a verb:

动词前用“地”。

她慢慢地写作业。-She writes her homework slowly.

老师认真地工作。- The teacher works hard.

A quick recap:

的：refers to a noun

的：名词前用。

得：connects a verb to an adjective

得：形容词前用。

地：connects an adjective to a verb

地：动词前用。

If you found today’s newsletter useful here are some of my other newsletters you might find interesting:

如果你觉得今天分享的内容有帮助，也欢迎你点击下面链接查看我之前分享的其它中文学习技巧。

How to Build Better Habits That Help You Learn Chinese

How to Improve Your Tones

And if you have any more questions about 的 得 地 you can leave a comment under my video, or you can also reply to this email!

关于“的，得，地”的用法，如果你还有任何疑惑，欢迎在我视频的评论区留言或者写信告诉我。

Happy learning,

祝你生活学习愉快，

Sandy

Do you want more help with learning Chinese? Check out my private online classes:

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