The usage of 的

amorim_tutu
 December 28, 2009, 08:24 AM posted in General Discussion

Ｈｅｙ，　ｈｅｌｌｏ　ｅｖｅｒｙｏｎｅ　ａｎｄ　ｍｅｒｒｙ　ｃｈｒｉｓｔｍａｓ　ｔｏ　ａｌｌ！！！　Ｉ　ｗａｓ　ｓｔｕｄｙｉｎｇ　ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ　ｗｈｅｎ　Ｉsaw these types of sentences:


住外宾的大部分房间。
住外宾的旅馆。
一部分外国公司的代表。 我在北京的一家大学工作。


I didn`t understand this usage, can anyone tell me when, how and why do I　ｕｓｅ　ｔｈｅ　的

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JasonSch
 December 29, 2009, 08:03 AM

的 is used to describe noun. There are 3 patterns:

1  adj.+的+noun    聪明的人 cōngmíng de rén  
2  noun.+的+noun.  你的票    nǐ de piào
3  clause+的+noun. 

Your sentence:

我在北京的一家大学工作

Follows the third pattern and means: I work at a university of (in) Beijing.

Your other three sentences are more like statements and without proper context, they could be translated using more than one of the above patterns.

As for when, where and why to use 的 just keep studying, getting lots of input and practicing. Eventually, you'll start to get a feeling, in addition to any 'rule', about when, where and why to use it.