Basic Grammar: all 87 lessons free
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Verb + 的 + Noun — The Breakfast I Made, the Girl Beside Him
动词结构做定语——我做的早饭、坐在他旁边的男生
这是我做的早饭, 坐在他旁边的男生是谁, 戴眼镜的男生是我最好的朋友: a whole verb phrase can describe a noun — put 的 between them.
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Memory hook
V / V-phrase + 的 + N
Describing before naming
Six from the deck, then the photo. Hear how long the phrase before 的 can grow before the noun finally arrives.
Tap any line to hear it
Describe first, name last先描述，后名字
No pressure — just making it stick.
这是____早饭，你尝一下。
Zhè shì ____ Zǎofàn, nǐ cháng yíxià.
This is the breakfast I made — have a taste.
He is your brother. Which reply?
Who's the girl who was having coffee with you?
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
____男生很帅。
____ Nánshēng hěn shuài.
Boys who like sport are handsome.
Your turn — say it
这是在中国买的茶。
This is tea bought in China.
____的男生是我最好的朋友。
____ De nánshēng shì wǒ zuì hǎo de péngyou.
The boy in glasses is my best friend.
Build each description with the right piece.
Tap a word to fill the next gap; tap a filled sentence to clear it. Every word is used once.
Word bank
0/5The photo, in pictures看图介绍
No pressure — just making it stick.
Four people and things from the deck's photo and home. Match each picture, then describe it with a verb + 的.
Tap a picture, then choose its word. Picked wrong? Tap that picture and choose again. Match all the cards to finish.
Your turn — say it
戴眼镜的男生是我最好的朋友。
The boy in glasses is my best friend.
This is the bike I bought.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
Your turn — say it
穿红衣服的女生是我妹妹。
The girl in red is my little sister.
This lesson's characters
Three from the photo: wearing, the eye in 眼镜, and the side someone sits at.
to wear (on the head, face or hands)
会two ideas joined
The old form showed a person lifting something onto their head — a mask, a headdress. That is still what 戴 means: to wear what goes on top or in front of you — 戴帽子 a hat, 戴眼镜 glasses, 戴手表 a watch. Clothes are 穿; anything you put on rather than into is 戴. 戴眼镜的男生 — the boy with glasses on.
eye
形meaning + sound
目 on the left is an eye drawn upright — the pupil in the middle — and 艮 lends the sound. 眼睛 is the eyes; 眼镜 is the eye-mirror, glasses; 眼泪 is tears. 戴眼镜的 is how half of China's students are described in any photo.
side, beside
形meaning + sound
方 for the sound under a marker on top: the side of something. 旁边 is beside — 坐在他旁边的男生, the boy sitting beside him; 旁人 is bystanders; and 偏旁, the 'side parts', are the components of a character — the 氵 and 讠 you have been meeting all course.
Take these with you
Everything worth taking away. Tap any line to hear it.
Words 生词
Characters 汉字
Before you go课后回顾
- Open one photo on your phone and introduce everyone in it with 的: 戴眼镜的是……，穿……的是……. Do it in under a minute — that is fluency.
- Walk through your room and attach a story to three things: 这是在……买的……，这是……做的……. Things become yours in Chinese when they have a 的.
- Feel the reversal: English says 'the boy who sits beside him', Chinese says 坐在他旁边的男生 — description first, name last. Once that flips in your head, long sentences stop being scary.