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#CHINESELESSON - Expressing possession with "de"
 
In Chinese, possession is marked with the particle 的 (de), placed after the "owner" noun or noun phrase. This particle works in a similar way to apostrophe-"s" in English, but is used much more broadly in Chinese. This article highlights one of its simplest and most common usages. Noun 1 + 的 + Noun 2
This means "Noun 1's Noun 2" (where Noun 2 belongs to Noun 1).
The structure is super simple. It will take a bit of time before you realize how truly universal this pattern is. It doesn't matter whether the "Noun 1" is a person, place, or thing, or even if it's a pronoun (like "he," "she," or "it"). The structure stays consistent.

Examples

· 我  老师 wǒ de lǎoshīmy teacher
· 你  手机 nǐ de shǒujī your cell phone
· 我们  钱 wǒmen de qiánour money
· 他们  东西 tāmen de dōngxitheir stuff
· 爸爸  车 bàba de chē dad's car
· 你们  菜 nǐmen de càiyour food
· 北京  空气 Běijīng de kōngqì Beijing's air
· 公司  老板gōngsī de lǎobǎnthe company's boss
· 上海  天气 Shànghǎi de tiānqì Shanghai's weather
· 老师  朋友 lǎoshī de péngyouteacher's friend
 

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