Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Chinese term or phrase:
的
English translation:
a meaningless filler in this context.
Added to glossary by
Roddy Stegemann
Apr 26, 2006 08:57
18 yrs ago
Chinese term
United States
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Native in: English 
Works in: German to English, Japanese to English, French to English, and 3 more.
的
Non-PRO
Chinese to English
Science
Education / Pedagogy
Grammatical Analysis
Sentence: 他在香港出生，一直住了二十年，去年才到外國去讀書的。
1st Attempt: He was born in Hong Kong where he lived for 20 years before going abroad last year to study.
Problem: This cannot possibly be a proper use of the word 的, can it?
I see this sentence, properly conceived, as the following:
他Ａ，Ｂ，ＣＤ where Ａ, Ｂ, C, and Ｄ are all verb phrases describing action on the part of 他. He was born, lived, went abroad and studied -- a fulfilled dream of many Hong Kong youth.
What possible function, grammatical or semantic, could the word 的 have in this sentence?
http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html#p...
As always, your other comments are always appreciated.
1st Attempt: He was born in Hong Kong where he lived for 20 years before going abroad last year to study.
Problem: This cannot possibly be a proper use of the word 的, can it?
I see this sentence, properly conceived, as the following:
他Ａ，Ｂ，ＣＤ where Ａ, Ｂ, C, and Ｄ are all verb phrases describing action on the part of 他. He was born, lived, went abroad and studied -- a fulfilled dream of many Hong Kong youth.
What possible function, grammatical or semantic, could the word 的 have in this sentence?
http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html#p...
As always, your other comments are always appreciated.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 +2 | It's a function word |
CHEN-Ling
|
Proposed translations
+2
58 mins
Selected
It's a function word
Here “的”is a auxiliary word without any sense.
For example:
1.好的，我会去那儿-Ok, I will go there.
2.这本书是她的-The book is hers.
From above we know that "的" is sometimes attached to the other words such as"我、你、她...." to form a possessive construction; sometimes attached to some adjective to form an phrase. For example, we seldom say: 亮闪闪星星. If we add "的" in this phrase, it will be more fluent:亮闪闪的星星。But it does not always make sense. "好人"、"好的人" are both correct phrases.
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Note added at 1 hr (2006-04-26 10:08:16 GMT)
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We seldom say"很好人" ,we always say"很好的人".lol
For example:
1.好的，我会去那儿-Ok, I will go there.
2.这本书是她的-The book is hers.
From above we know that "的" is sometimes attached to the other words such as"我、你、她...." to form a possessive construction; sometimes attached to some adjective to form an phrase. For example, we seldom say: 亮闪闪星星. If we add "的" in this phrase, it will be more fluent:亮闪闪的星星。But it does not always make sense. "好人"、"好的人" are both correct phrases.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2006-04-26 10:08:16 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
We seldom say"很好人" ,we always say"很好的人".lol
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Final rendering: He was born in Hong Kong where he lived for 20 years before going abroad last year to study.
Discussion:
I would like to refer you to the following link, but I am currently unable to synchronize my iDisk with the .Mac server, so you must please wait:
http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/part2/II-7-g.html#s3
Acknowledgement: I am not sure what Minoer means by a function word, but we do agree on two of the fundamental uses of the character 的, and its somewhat inconsistent application. Wenjer Wenschel's suggestion was also very helpful, as will soon become apparent in the discussion on the Tsong Kit website. Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to digest Clark An's contribution. Hopefully we will find more tangible examples of his interpretation further down the road.
Thanks to everyone!"
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