CLO_064: I still have a lot more to study
Listen to this lesson, to learn the following:
Dialogue: Numbers
A: Ni3 hao3. Ni3 shi4 na3 yi1 guo2 de ren2?
B: Wo3 shi4 Ri4ben3ren2.
A: Ke3shi4 ni3de Zhong1wen2 zen3me shuo1 de zhe4me hao3.
B: Na3li3, na3li3. Wo3 yao4 xue2 de hai2 hen3duo1.
A: Ji4xu4 jia1you2.
B: Xie4xie, wo3 hui4 de.
Dialogue: Tones
A: Nǐ hǎo. Nǐ shì nǎ yī guó de rén?
B: Wǒ shì Rìběnrén.
A: Kěshì nǐde Zhōngwén zěnme shuō de zhème hǎo.
B: Nǎlǐ, nǎlǐ. Wǒ yào xué de hái hěnduō.
A: Jìxù jiāyóu.
B: Xièxie, wǒ huì de.
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PDF Notes: 
February 12th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Ni Hao!
And many thanks for your splendid lessons!
I would very much appreciate if you could explain the use of the two different “de” in the sentence “可是你的中文说得这么好.”keshi nide zhongwen shuode zhenme hao! Especially the last one is a bit of a mystery to me. When to use it, and when to use the combination of the two? A few examples perhaps?
88
Bo
February 12th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
This is a bit of a confusing topic that only comes up in Chinese writing since the pronunciation of the two “de”s is the same. I’m going to quote a consultant of mine here:
Nǐ Zhōngwén shuōde (的) hěn hǎo — means “The Chinese that you speak is very good”. Here, the de(的) turns Nǐ Zhōngwén shuōde into a noun clause. Hěn hǎo is a verb clause meaning “to be very good”.
Nǐ Zhōngwén shuōde (得) hěn hǎo — means “You speak Chinese very well”, or literally, “Your Chinese speaks very well”. In this case, Nǐ Zhōngwén is the subject/noun phrase, and “shuōde (得) hěn hǎo ” is a verb phrase meaning “speak very well”, with the 得 being an adverbial particle.
Here are some other examples:
Zhèběn shū shì wǒde(的): This book is mine.
Zhè shì wǒde(的) shū: This is my book.
Lǎohǔ pǎode(得) kuài: Tigers run fast.
Zhōngguórén shuōde (得) hěn kuài: Chinese people speak very fast.
Hope that helps!
February 12th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
This is what I’ve been guessing about those “de” words.
We already know that 的 is used to show that one thing(person) owns something else. It’s not about doing anything, it’s just showing the possessive relationships between stuff that’s being named. Sometimes it’s also used before the words that describe the thing, but at this stage that use is still a bit of a mystery.
The other de word is not about things, but about describing actions. It feels like 得 is a linking word that has to sit between the action, and the way that action is performed. So I’m guessing you would have to say: she is laughing de uncontrollably. Is that anything like what’s going on?
February 13th, 2007 at 1:44 am
Since “Wǒ yào xuéde hái hěnduō” translates as “I still have a lot more to study” how would you say, “I want to study a lot more” ?
(In English, the difference is that in the first case, you have a lot more to study whether you want to or not. In the second case, you want to study a lot more, regardless of whether there’s any need to.)
February 13th, 2007 at 9:06 am
Hi again!
Just as i thought i had understood it, i came upon the characters of the last sentense:
Xiexie, wo huide. 谢谢，我会的. :-O! Why 的?
If it had been 得i would have been according to the discussion above, but now i am lost!!
88
Bo
February 13th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Hi Bo,
Huì (会 )isn’t an action in the same sense as shuō (说) so therefore it gets a 的.
February 15th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
LuoBot, sorry I missed your comment. If you wanted to say “I want to study a lot more” you could say “Wǒ xiǎng yào xué hěnduō.” You’re right that yào can also mean “want” depending on context, so sometimes you have to be more specific in how you phrase such items if you want a specific meaning to be realized.
February 15th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
Adam, I’ve heard “xiǎng yào” said together in other contexts and wondered whether it was redundant. Given the example in this dialogue and your explanation, I finally see why that redundancy is necessary. Thanks.
February 16th, 2007 at 6:58 am
Hello again!
Back to the “谢谢，我会的.” sentence..
I´ve been mail-talking to a couple of zhongguo xin pengyou about these two “de”.
They think of the 的 in this situation as an emphatic adding. Like: Ni hui shuo yingwen ma? Wo hui. Yes. while:Wo hui de. means Yes i do (speak). Can this be applied also to this context?
Bo
February 16th, 2007 at 9:50 am
Hi Bo, I think that’s a good way to look at it. The Chinese language is very musical and all about balance. Sometimes extra words are added just to add balance to a sentence and make it sound better. So Wǒ huì by itself may seem incomplete whereas Wǒ huìde has more balance to it. You will also often hear Shìde (Yes) in response to a question rather than just Shì.