How to Use Three "De" - 的、地、得
Getting Descriptive Using 的de
In Q1, apart from the possessive 的 such as 我的wǒde (mine), 你的nǐde (yours), 他的tāde (his/hers), we also learned 的 in descriptive clauses. It will often appear in phrases like: "The man who went to China", "places that are really hot", "dogs with have lots of hair".
Description + 的de + noun
Description can be either adjectives or phrases.
chuàngyè shì yījiàn yǒu fēngxiǎn de shìqing.
创业是一件有风险的事情。
Starting a business is a risky thing.
Risky is our description. Thing is our noun. In this case, the description is an adjective.
Nàgè zài dǎsǎo bàngōngshì de rén shì wǒ de mìshū.
那个在打扫办公室的人是我的秘书。
The person who is cleaning the office is my secretary.
“who is cleaning the office” is our description. “People” is our noun. In this case, the description is a phrase.
Describing Actions Using 得de
The 的de we learned in Q1 is to describe nouns, while we learned how to describe actions using 得de in Q2. Fortunately, the formula is very similar: we add 得de between any verbs and the connecting description!
Verb + 得de + Intensifier Description
Nǐ nǚ'ér xiànzài tiào jiēwǔ tiào de zěnme yàng?
你女儿现在跳街舞跳得怎么样？
How is your daughter dancing now?
We use “怎么样zěnmeyàng” to ask “how well does A do the action?”.
tā měi gè xīngqí shàng 3 cì jiēwǔ kè, suǒyǐ xiànzài tā tiào de tèbié hǎo.
她每个星期上3次街舞课，所以现在她跳得特别好。
She takes hip-hop lessons 3 times a week, so now she dances very well.
跳街舞tiàojiēwǔ is a verb phrase, so we will have to separate them since 得de has to come RIGHT AFTER THE VERB.
Expressing “suffix -ly” Using 地de
When you want to express something like “… he said angrily”, “he walk slowly” or “she cry sadly”, we will use this 地de.
Adjective + 地de + Verb
Wǒ fēicháng kāixīn de gàosù tā wǒ de míngzì.
我非常开心地告诉他我的名字。
I happily told him my name.
Tā màn man de zǒu dào wǒ de pángbiān.
他慢慢地走到我的旁边。
He walked slowly to my side.