吧 (ma) and 吗 (ma) are two of the most common sentence particles in Chinese grammar. (A sentence particle just means a particle that goes on the end of a sentence.) They have some similarity in that both can be used to ask questions, but they are quite distinct in their uses. Learn how to use both of these sentence particles correctly with the guide below. As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, please share them in them comments at the end of the page.
How to use the 吧 (ba) sentence particle
Once you’ve been learning Mandarin for a while, you’ll probably start to notice that the particle 吧 (ba) crops up all over the place. It’s extremely common in everyday speech. 吧 has two main uses, which we will cover here.
吧 makes instructions less direct
The first is to mark and soften commands, requests and suggestions. Remember that 吧 doesn’t just indicate that something is a command or suggestion - it also makes it sound a little bit softer. This use of the 吧 sentence particle can turn a slightly pushy instruction into a more neutral one. Let’s have a look at some example sentences for this use of 吧: 咱们走吧。 Zánmen zǒu ba. Let's go. 我帮你吧。 Wǒ bāng nǐ ba. Let me help you. 快点吧！ Kuài diǎn ba! Hurry up! 你来吧。 Nǐ lái ba. Why don't you do it? 给我点儿纸吧。 Gěi wǒ diǎn er zhǐ ba. Can you give me some paper? Notice how English has a few different ways of making these sorts of requests and suggestions less direct. In Chinese, 吧 can be used in all of these situations. Also remember that all of the above sentences would still work without 吧, they would just be more direct.
吧 asks for agreement or confirmation
The second main use of 吧 is as a tag question to ask for agreement or confirmation with what is being said. These aren’t ‘true’ questions - they’re just prompting the listener to agree. The speaker thinks that what they are saying is probably true, but they’d like to confirm it. Let’s have a look at some example sentences for this use of 吧: 他姓王，对吧？ Tā xìng wáng, duì ba? His surname is Wang, isn't it? 你们很饿吧？ Nǐmen hěn è ba? You must be hungry! 不错吧？ Bùcuò ba? Pretty good, right? 不对吧？ Bùduì ba? That's not right, is it? You might be able to see the similarity between both uses of the sentence particle 吧. They’re both used in situations where the speaker doesn’t want to be too certain or direct in what they’re saying.
How to use the 吗 (ma) sentence particle
Most students of Chinese grammar find that the sentence particle 吗 (ma) is a little bit easier to understand. It is placed on the end of a sentence to turn it into a yes-no question. This type of question is also known as a polar question or binary question. It simply means that the question can only be answered with “yes” or “no” (rather than an open-ended response). Here are some quick example sentences for the 吗 sentence particle: 你饿吗？ Nǐ è ma? Are you hungry? 吃饭了吗？ Chīfànle ma? Have you eaten? 你要去上海吗？ Nǐ yào qù Shànghǎi ma? Are you going to go to Shanghai? 你看过这部电影吗？ Nǐ kànguò zhè bù diànyǐng ma? Have you seen this film before? As you can see above, 吗 is fairly easy to use as a sentence particle. You simply place it after a statement and it turns it into a yes-no question.
The difference between 吧 and 吗
As you saw above, 吧 and 吗 are similar in some ways but definitely not the same. 吧 is for softening commands, requests, questions and suggestions. 吗 is simply for turning statements into yes-no questions. If you have any questions or suggestions, please share them in the comments below (bonus points if you use 吧 or 吗 in your question or suggestion!)
The particles 呢 (ne) and 吗 (ma) are extremely common in Chinese. This article explains the two particles for beginners. 呢 and 吗 are similar in the following ways:
Both go at the end of a sentence.
Both of them can form questions.
Both of them are pronounced in neutral tone.
But these two particles have different uses:
吗 is used to turn statements into yes-no questions.
呢 is mostly used to turn statements into queries (amongst other things).
Now let’s look at the two particles in detail.
吗 (ma)
As mentioned above, 吗 is a question particle that is used to turn statements into yes-no questions. What exactly does that mean? A yes-no question is also known as a “binary question” or a “polar question”. This simply means that it’s a question that can only be answered with “yes” or “no”. In other words, it’s not an open question. The question particle 吗 is the easiest way to form this kind of question in Mandarin Chinese. All you do is put it on the end of a plain statement, and the statement becomes a yes-no question. Have a look at some examples: 你是李先生吗？ Nǐ shì Lǐ Xiānshēng ma? Are you Mr Li? 你会中文吗？ Nǐ huì Zhōngwén ma? Do you speak Chinese? 这里有洗手间吗？ Zhèli yǒu xǐshǒujiān ma? Is there a toilet here? Those would all be valid sentences without 吗. They would just be plain statements: 你是李先生。 Nǐ shì Lǐ Xiānshēng. You are Mr Li. 你会中文。 Nǐ huì Zhōngwén. You speak Chinese. 这里有洗手间。 Zhèli yǒu xǐshǒujiān. There is a toilet here. Compare the two sets of sentences. You can see that when 吗 is added on the end, they become yes-no questions. All of those questions can only be answered with agreement or disagreement. That’s what 吗 is for. In this way, 吗 is almost like a question mark that you say out loud. It goes on the end of the sentence and indicates that it’s a question. Have a look at some point statements being changed into yes-no questions with 吗: 这是你的。 Zhè shì nǐ de. This is yours. 这是你的吗？ Zhè shì nǐ de ma? Is this yours? 他是泰国人。 Tā shì Tàiguórén. He's from Thailand. 他是泰国人吗？ Tā shì Tàiguórén ma? Is he from Thailand? 那是飞机。 Nà shì fēijī. That's a plane. 那是飞机吗？ Nà shì fēijī ma? Is that a plane? Notice how in English you have to re-arrange the word order of the sentence to form these questions. In Chinese, all you have to do is add 吗 on the end.
呢 (ne)
The particle 呢 has more uses than 吗, but we’ll look at the most important one here: forming queries, or asking bounce-back questions. The most common use for 呢 is probably to form simple queries. All you do is put 呢 after the thing you want to query. This is often equivalent to saying “and … ?“, “what about … ?” or “how about … ?” in English. Some examples: 你呢？ Nǐ ne? And you? 我呢？ Wǒ ne? What about me? 这些东西呢？ Zhèxiē dōngxi ne? What about these things? As you can see, it’s very easy to query things in Chinese using 呢. Just say the thing you’d like to know about, and put 呢 right after it. This is very commonly used to ask ‘bounce-back questions’ in Chinese. This is when someone asks you a question, and you return the question to them after answering it. This is commonly done by simply asking “你呢？”. There are a few other uses for 呢 in Chinese grammar, but we won’t go into detail about those in this article.
Comparing 吗 and 呢
As you can see above, these two particles are fairly similar. But what are the important differences? Let’s have a look at a few here. The first difference is that 吗 is only for yes-no questions, whereas 呢 cannot be used in yes-no questions. 吗 always forms these questions, whereas when 呢 is used to form queries, they are open-ended. The second difference is that 呢 can combine with question words to emphasize a query. 吗 can’t be doubled-up with other question words; it marks questions on its own. For example, 呢 is being used to add a further querying element to these questions: 你为什么不去呢？ Nǐ wèishénme bù qù ne? Why aren't you going? 他有什么不喜欢吃的呢？ Tā yǒu shénme bù xǐhuan chī de ne? What is there that he doesn't like to eat? Those would both be grammatically valid questions without 呢, but by adding 呢 the speaker makes it clear that they don’t just want an answer to the question - they’re questioning the situation or even criticising it. They’ve added a further query to it. 吗, on the other hand, can’t combine directly with other question words in a statement. If there’s already a question word, it fills up the question “slot”, and there’s no more space for 吗. The only way 吗 can appear with other question words in the same sentence is if it’s used to ask a yes-no question about a condition. That sounds complicated, but this example might make it clearer: 你知道他为什么不吃肉吗？ Nǐ zhīdào tā wèishéme bù chī ròu ma? Do you know why he doesn't eat meat? 吗 is appearing with another question word (为什么) in that sentence, but it’s not actually part of that question. There are two questions in the sentence here: an inner question about why the person doesn’t eat meat, and an outer question about whether the listener knows the answer to the inner question: 你知道吗？ Nǐ zhīdào ma? Do you know? 他为什么不吃肉？ Tā wèishénme bù chī ròu? Why doesn't he eat meat? 吗 really only applies to the outer question, so it doesn’t clash with the question word in the inner one. Other than that kind of situation, 吗 can’t appear directly together with other question words.
Here are ten basic Chinese grammar points that everyone interested in the language should know. If you’ve recently started learning Chinese, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re familiar with these points. The grammar points listed here might make a nice refresher if you’ve already got a few Chinese lessons under your belt. Once you’ve been studying for a while, they’ll probably seem very obvious!
Basic Chinese Grammar 101
Talk about locations with 在 (zài)
To talk about things being in places, use the word 在 (zài). This is actually a verb, so you don’t need to use any other words to talk about something being somewhere. The structure is:
[something] 在 [place]
Have a look at some example: 我在这里。 Wǒ zài zhèlǐ. I am here. 你在那里。 Nǐ zài nàlǐ. You are there. 上海在中国。 Shànghǎi zài Zhōngguó. Shanghai is in China. 猫在沙发上。 Māo zài shāfā shàng. The cat is on the sofa. Notice how English uses the verb “to be” where Chinese uses 在. English also uses prepositions - “to be in” - whereas Chinese often just uses 在.
Use measure words with nouns
Measure words are used whenever you talk about quantities in Chinese. You can’t attach numbers directly to nouns - you have to put a measure word in between. There are different measure words for different categories of things. For example, the measure word for books is 本 (běn), whilst the measure word for flat things is 张 (zhāng). Luckily, there is also a general purpose measure word: 个 (ge). This can be used for pretty much everything, but it’s better to use more specific measure words when you can.
Talk about having things with 有 (yǒu)
You can talk about having things with the word 有 (yǒu) - “to have”. Remember that you don’t need to conjugate (change) verbs in Chinese, so 有 is always 有 no matter whom you’re talking about. The structure is simply:
[subject] 有 [object]
Let’s have a look at some example sentences. Notice that the nouns in the sentences have measure words before them: 个 (ge), 本 (běn) and 把 (bǎ). 我有一个妹妹。 Wǒ yǒu yī gè mèimei. I have a younger sister. 我有一本书。 Wǒ yǒu yī běn shū. I have a book. 他有一把枪！ Tā yǒu yī bǎ qiāng! He has a gun! Hopefully you won’t ever have to use the last example sentence there.
是 (shì) is not exactly the same as “to be”
The closest equivalent of the English word “to be” in Chinese is 是 (shì). This is used to link nouns to other nouns. The structure is:
[noun] 是 [noun]
Let’s have a look at some examples: 我是学生。 Wǒ shì xuéshēng. I am a student. 他是老师。 Tā shì lǎoshī. He is a teacher. 她是医生。 Tā shì yīshēng. She is a doctor. 这是书。 Zhè shì shū. This is a book. Notice how 是 is used to talk about one noun being another. You can’t use 是 to link adjectives to nouns, though, as in “this book is heavy”. To do that, you have to use 很 (hěn). The basic structure for 很 (hěn) is the same as for 是, but 很 is used with adjectives. Have a look at some example sentences: 这本书很重。 Zhè běn shū hěn zhòng. This book is heavy. 她很高。 Tā hěn gāo. She is tall. 我们很高兴。 Wǒmen hěn gāoxìng. We are happy. Sometimes 很 is translated as “very”, but opinions vary on how accurate this is. We think it’s simply used to link adjectives to nouns, whilst others think it also intensifies the adjectives.
Talk about wanting things with 要 (yào)
You can talk about directly wanting something with the word 要 (yào). This word is also used to talk about the future, as in “I’m going to do” something. 要 is quite versatile and can be used with nouns or verbs:
[subject] 要 [noun]
or
[subject] 要 [action]
Have a look at some examples: 我要一个三明治。 Wǒ yào yīgè sānmíngzhì. I want a sandwich. 我要吃三明治。 Wǒ yào chī sānmíngzhì. I'm going to eat a sandwich / I want to eat a sandwich. 她要去北京。 Tā yào qù Běijīng. She's going to go to Beijing. 我们要走了。 Wǒmen yào zǒu le. We're going to leave. Be careful when using 要 to mean “to want”, as it could be quite abrupt, just as in English.
Negate 有 (yǒu) with 没 (méi)
To talk about “not having” something, you negate the word 有 (yǒu) with 没 (méi). Remember this important point: if you negate 有, always use 没. The two words go together. Examples: 我没有车。 Wǒ méiyǒu chē. I don't have a car. 他们没有钱。 Tāmen méiyǒu qián. They don't have money. 他没有学位。 Tā méiyǒu xuéwèi. He doesn't have a degree. That’s how you negate 有. But there’s a different word for everything else!
Negate everything else with 不 (bù)
Every other verb apart from 有 is negated with 不 (bù). 不 is pretty much equivalent to “not” or “don’t” in English. It goes before a verb and negates it. Some examples: 我不喜欢啤酒。 Wǒ bù xǐhuan píjiǔ. I don't like beer. 我不要去纽约。 Wǒ búyào qù Niǔyuē. I'm not going to New York. 我不想念他们。 Wǒ bù xiǎngniàn tāmen. I don't miss them. Remember to negate 有 with 没, and everything else with 不.
Mark possession with 的 (de)
The most common character in Chinese is 的 (de). That’s because 的 is used all the time to mark possession. That means that it’s used to talk about things belonging to other things, or to attach qualities to things. 的 is extremely versatile in Chinese. Pretty much any relationship where one thing belongs to another, or is the property of another, can be described with 的. 的 is kind of equivalent to ’s (apostrophe s) in English. It goes between two things to indicate possession. But it’s used very widely to attach any kind of quality or possession. Some examples: 这是你的。 Zhè shì nǐde. This is yours. 那是小李的书。 Nà shì Xiǎo Lǐ de shū. That is Xiao Li's book. 这是我的电话号码。 Zhè shì wǒde diànhuà hàomǎ. This is my phone number. 这是他们的房子。 Zhè shì tāmende fángzi. This is their house. 这条裤子是黑色的。 Zhè tiáo kùzi shì hēisè de. These trousers are black. 她是一个很重要的人。 Tā shì yīgè hěn zhòngyào de rén. She is a very important person. You might want to have a look at a more challenging example sentence for 的. Don’t worry if this is beyond your ability at the moment, though: 我今天学的东西很有意思。 Wǒ jīntiān xué de dōngxi hěn yǒuyìsi. The things I have learnt today are very interesting. The main point to remember is that 的 can attach pretty much anything to anything else. You’ll get more used to it the more you read and listen to Chinese.
Link nouns with 和 (hé)
The most common way to express “and” in Chinese is probably 和 (hé). Remember, though, that 和 can only be used to link nouns. You can’t link verbs together with 和. 和 is used to link nouns in the same way “and” is used in English. Some examples: 我和我哥哥要去北京。 Wǒ hé wǒ gēgē yào qù Běijīng. My brother and I are going to Beijing. 我喜欢米饭和面条。 Wǒ xǐhuan mǐfàn hé miàntiáo. I like rice and noodles. 我和你一样。 Wǒ hé nǐ yīyàng. You and I are the same. Link nouns with 和 but not verbs. Linking verbs in Chinese is a bit more complicated so we won’t look at it here.
Ask yes/no questions with 吗 (ma)
Finally, use 吗 (ma) to ask yes / no questions in Chinese. These questions are also known as polar questions or binary questions. You can turn any statement into a yes / no question simply by putting 吗 at the end. Some examples: 你喜欢他吗？ Nǐ xǐhuan tā ma? Do you like him? 这是你的吗？ Zhè shì nǐde ma? Is this yours? 你要去上海吗？ Nǐ yào qù Shànghǎi ma? Are you going to go to Shanghai?
Whilst it’s important to learn grammar in detail in small chunks, it can be very useful to get familiar with some general Chinese grammar rules. These aren’t specific grammatical structures, but general facts about the Chinese language that apply in most cases. They can help you get a feel for Mandarin Chinese and how it works.
Chinese grammar rule #1: What precedes modifies what follows
This rule sounds a little bit complicated when you first see it, but it’s actually quite straightforward. It simply means that modifiers come before the thing they modify. The Chinese language, right through from the written classical language to the modern spoken vernacular, has always had this rule. Let’s look at some simple examples to demonstrate this rule. 他不喜欢 贵的 东西。 Tā bù xǐhuan guì de dōngxi. He doesn't like expensive things. 我哥哥 慢慢地 开车。 Wǒ gēgē mànmande kāichē. My brother drives slowly . 她能喝 很多 啤酒。 Tā néng hē hěnduō píjiǔ. She can drink a lot of beer. As you can see in each of the Chinese sentences, the modifier (colored red) comes before the thing it modifies. 贵的 (expensive) comes before 东西 (things), 慢慢地 (slowly) comes before 开车 (drive) and 很多 (a lot of) comes before 啤酒 (beer). Notice how the position of the modifier varies in the English sentences. Knowing about this ‘modifiers first’ rule in Chinese grammar can be very helpful in the early stages of your Chinese studies. It lets you follow the structure of sentences more quickly because you can identify modifiers (adjectives and adverbs) and the things they’re modifying (nouns and verbs) more easily. It also lets you form sentences with more confidence because you know that adjectives should be placed before the nouns they modify, and adverbs should be placed before the verbs they modify.
Rule #2: Words do not change
Unlike in European languages, words in Chinese do not change. They have a fixed form that is the same no matter what they’re used for or where the appear in a sentence. In Chinese, you don’t conjugate verbs and you don’t make adjectives agree. According to Chinese grammar rules, a word is a word. Have a look at these examples that illustrate this point: 她去工作。 Tā qù gōngzuò. She goes to work. 我去工作。 Wǒ qù gōngzuò. I go to work. 他们去工作。 Tāmen qù gōngzuò. They go to work. 我们去工作。 Wǒmen qù gōngzuò. We go to work. These simple sentences show that verbs do not change in Chinese, whereas they do in English. The verb 去 (qù) is the same in every sentence and doesn’t change. These sentences would be even more varied in a language like French, but in Chinese the verb is the same every time. It’s not just verbs that never change according to Chinese grammar rules. Adjectives are also fixed in their form and are the same no matter what noun they modify. Let’s see some examples: 这是一辆 黑色的 车。 Zhè shì yī liàng hēisède jū. This is a black car. 我看到了一些 黑色的 猫。 Wǒ kàn dàole yīxiē hēisède māo. I saw some black cats. 这是一件 黑色的 衬衫。 Zhè shì yī jiàn hēisède chènshān. This is a black shirt. The adjective in these sentences, 黑色的 (hēisède) , is the same for each of the items. There is no gender or grammatical number in Chinese grammar rules.
Rule #3: Chinese is topic-prominent
This is a rule that English-speakers often find hard to get used to. Chinese is topic prominent. This means that it puts the thing the sentence is about first. English is subject prominent, which means that it puts the doer of an action (the subject) in a sentence first. If you haven’t studied grammar before, you might not be familiar with these terms. The subject in a sentence is the thing that performs the action of the verb. The subject of the following sentences is colored red: Helikes cheese. You are awesome. New Yorkis exciting. We eat rice. English and other European languages usually prefer to put the subject first, as you can see in the sentences above. But Chinese and other East Asian languages often prefer to put the topic of the sentence first. The topic of a sentence isn’t as clear as the subject. The topic is not a grammatical role, but the thing that the sentence is about. It’s the main point of the sentence. It’s also called the theme of the sentence for this reason. I've finished my work. In this sentence the subject is “I”, but that’s not really what the sentence is about. The sentence is not about the speaker, it’s about the work. So the topic of this sentence is “the work”. Because Chinese is topic-prominent, it’s often possible and very natural to put the topic first in a sentence rather than the subject. It is also possible in English, but it sounds much less natural, as you can see in the following examples: 红酒我不太喜欢。 Hóngjiǔ wǒ bù tài xǐhuan. Red wine, I don't really like. 法国我没去过。 Fàguó wǒ méi qùguò. France, I haven't been to. 一支笔有吗？ Yī zhī bǐ yǒu ma? A pen - got one? The sentences above are perfectly permissible according to Chinese grammar rules, but quite odd in English. Note that you could also form the Chinese sentences with the subject first and they would be just as grammatical. Also notice that the last sentence doesn’t include the subject (you) at all. This is possible because Chinese grammar is primarily interested in the topic (a pen) and not the subject.
Rule #4: Aspect, not tense
Another big difference between European languages and Chinese is aspect and tense. European languages usually indicate both of these things in a sentence, whereas Chinese tends to only indicates aspect. Again, you might not be aware of what these terms mean. Tense is about when an action took place relative to now, when we’re speaking. Aspect is about the completeness of an action relative to when it took place. Have a look at these two sentences in English to see the difference: I will set off to Beijing. I will have set off to Beijing. Both of these sentences are in the future tense. But the aspect is different, because the completeness of the action (setting off to Beijing) is different in the time frame of each sentence. The speaker hasn’t yet set off to Beijing in either sentence. In the time frame they’re speaking about in the second sentence, though, they will have. So the aspect is different (the action is complete in that time frame). How Chinese marks for aspect is difficult and quite complex. It revolves around a few particles, most importantly 了 (le), but we won’t go into details of that here. The lesson here is to bear in mind that Chinese doesn’t mark for tense, but it does mark for aspect. This will take some getting used to, but you will get there eventually!
Rule #5: Chinese is logical
Finally, we come to the most general rule about Chinese grammar. One of the joys of studying Chinese is that on the whole it’s a very logical, consistent language. This is very true in Chinese vocabulary, as you can usually see very clearly the logic behind most words. It’s also true in Chinese grammar rules, which tend to be consistent and reusable once you’ve learned them. One example of this is that Chinese tends to only indicate things once in a sentence. For example, if the time has already been made clear, it doesn’t need to be indicated again. Similarly, the number of a noun only needs to indicated once in most cases. More of these examples crop up as you get further into the language. Try to bear this point in mind and you will often find that you can guess how to say new things with some accuracy.
This grammar structure is one of the most basic and important features of Chinese grammar:
modifier + 的 + noun
This comes up all the time in all sorts of sentences in Chinese. It follows the general rulethat what precedes modifies what follows - first the modifier, then 的 (de) to link them, and then the noun.
Noun + 的 + noun
This may be the most basic grammar structure with 的. By placing 的 between two nouns, you can indicate possession. That is, the second noun belongs to the first. Some examples: 你的衣服 nǐ de yīfú your clothes 小李的朋友 Xiǎo Lǐ de péngyǒu Xiao Li's friend 他们的钱 tāmen de qián their money You can think of 的 as being similar to ’s (apostrophe s) in English. It marks possession in the same way and appears between the two nouns. More example of 的 behaving like ’s: 小王的房子 Xiǎo Wáng de fángzi Xiao Wang's house 赵先生的自行车 Zhào Xiānshēng de zìxíngchē Mr Zhao's bike 老张的猫 Lǎo Zhāng de māo Old Zhang's cat And now some full example sentences with 的 showing possession between two nouns: 这是你的吗？ Zhè shì nǐ de ma? Is this yours? 那是他们的。 Nà shì tāmen de. It's theirs. 我喜欢你的帽子。 Wǒ xǐhuan nǐ de màozi. I like your hat. This noun + 的 + noun structure is one of the most basic grammar structures in Chinese. It should be one of the first structures that learners get familiar with.
Adjective + 的 + noun
As well as marking actual possession between two nouns, 的 is also used to modify things more generally. What it actually does is attach attributes to things. One way 的 can attach attributes to things is by appearing between an adjective and a noun. This simply links the adjective to the noun to describe it. Some examples: 红色的衣服 hóngsè de yīfu red clothes 好吃的菜 hǎochī de cài tasty food 漂亮的花 piàoliang de huā beautiful flowers You could think of this as literally saying e.g. “red’s clothes” or “clothes that belong to red”. This is the standard way of linking adjectives to nouns in Chinese grammar. Some full example sentences for this adjective + 的 + noun grammar structure: 我喜欢很辣的菜。 Wǒ xǐhuan hěn là de cài. I like spicy food. 她是个很无聊的人。 Tā shì ge hěn wúliáo de rén. She is a very boring person. 这是一种很浓的咖啡。 Zhè shì yìzhǒng hěn nóng de kāfēi. This is a very strong kind of coffee. By now you can see that 的 is a very versatile linking word in Chinese. It appears all over the place, and is generally considered the most commonly used Chinese character.
clause + 的 + noun
Finally, we’ll have a look at a slightly more complicated 的 grammar structure. Because 的 can be used to attach pretty much anything to anything else, you can use it to link entire phrases to things. The phrase then becomes a description or quality. This sounds complicated but it will probably become clearer with some examples: 我买的茶 wǒ mǎi de chá the tea I bought 他喜欢的那个女孩 Tā xǐhuan de nàge nǚhái that girl he likes 你最喜欢的颜色 nǐ zuì xǐhuan de yánsè your favourite colour (the colour you like the most) In those examples, rather than a noun or an adjective, we have a phrase (e.g. 我买 - “I buy”). The phrase is linked to a noun using 的, and becomes a description or attribute of the noun. Some more examples of this modifying clause / phrase with 的: 他弄丢的东西 tā nòng diū de dōngxi the thing he lost 我不认识的一个人 wǒ bù rènshi de yīge rén someone that I don't know 我们第一次见到彼此的地方 wǒmen dì yī cì jiàn dào bǐcǐ dì dìfāng the place where we first met 昨天跟我一块儿吃饭的那个人 zuótiān gēn wǒ yīkuàir chīfàn dì nàge rén the person with whom I ate yesterday Notice how you can attach quite complicated things to a noun using 的. That whole complex phrase just becomes an attribute of the noun. Have a look at some full example sentences for this structure: 他们买的自行车很便宜。 Tāmen mǎi de zìxíngchē hěn piányi. The bike they bought is very cheap. 这是我看过最好看的书。 Zhè shì wǒ kànguò zuì hǎo kàn de shū. This is the best book I've ever read. 你是第一个这样做的人。 Nǐ shì dì yī gè zhèyàng zuò de rén. You are the first person to do it this way.
