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Level Independent Chinese · HSK 3

Long Modifiers and Scene Descriptions: 我昨天买的书, 墙上挂着一张地图

English puts descriptions of a noun after it: "the book that I bought yesterday". Chinese puts them all before the noun, joined with 的: 我昨天买的书. There's no word for "that", "who" or "which".

The same before-the-noun habit appears in scene descriptions, where the place comes first and the thing last.

Clause + 的 + noun

Take the clause, drop the noun out of it, add 的, then put the noun at the end. It works for subjects (the person who wrote it) and objects (the book I bought).

  • 这是我昨天买的书。

    Zhè shì wǒ zuótiān mǎi de shū.

    This is the book I bought yesterday.

  • 写这篇文章的人是谁？

    Xiě zhè piān wénzhāng de rén shì shéi?

    Who's the person who wrote this article?

  • 在门口等你的那个人是谁？

    Zài ménkǒu děng nǐ de nàge rén shì shéi?

    Who's that person waiting for you at the door?

Demonstratives and dropping the noun

这 / 那 + measure word can go before the whole clause or right before the noun: 那本我昨天买的书 or 我昨天买的那本书. If the noun is obvious, drop it: 我要的是这个 (what I want is this one).

  • 我昨天买的那本书很有意思。

    Wǒ zuótiān mǎi de nà běn shū hěn yǒu yìsi.

    That book I bought yesterday is very interesting.

  • 我想要的不是这个。

    Wǒ xiǎng yào de bú shì zhège.

    This isn't what I wanted.

Place + verb + 着 + thing

To describe a scene, put the place first, then a position verb with 着, then the number and the thing: 墙上挂着一张地图, "on the wall hangs a map". Compare 有 (there is), 是 (what occupies the place) and verb + 着 (how it's positioned).

PatternExampleFocus
place + 有 + thing墙上有一张地图。there is
place + 是 + thing房子前面是一个公园。what the place is
place + verb 着 + thing墙上挂着一张地图。how it's positioned

  • 墙上挂着一张地图。

    Qiáng shang guà zhe yì zhāng dìtú.

    There's a map hanging on the wall.

  • 门口站着一个人。

    Ménkǒu zhàn zhe yí ge rén.

    Someone is standing at the door.

  • 桌子上放着几本书。

    Zhuōzi shang fàng zhe jǐ běn shū.

    There are a few books on the table.

Common mistakes

  • ✗那个人谁在门口等你？

    ✓在门口等你的那个人是谁？

    Zài ménkǒu děng nǐ de nàge rén shì shéi?

    There's no relative "who". The whole description goes before the noun with 的.

  • ✗书我昨天买的很有意思。

    ✓我昨天买的书很有意思。

    Wǒ zuótiān mǎi de shū hěn yǒu yìsi.

    The description comes before the noun, not after it.

  • ✗一张地图挂着在墙上。

    ✓墙上挂着一张地图。

    Qiáng shang guà zhe yì zhāng dìtú.

    In a scene description the place comes first, the thing last.

Questions learners ask

How long can a modifier be?

As long as you like, but very long ones are hard to follow. In speech, people often split them: 我昨天买了一本书，很有意思.

Why is the thing in an existential sentence always 一张, 一个, 几本?

Because it's being introduced as new, like English "a map". A known thing would use 在: 地图在墙上.

Practice this in lessons

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