Is double 的 possible?

kdogg36
April 17, 2010, 12:19 PM posted in I Have a Question

It seems as if you can make an adjective act like a noun by adding 的, e.g. 高的是我的朋友 gāo de shì wǒ de péngyǒu "The tall one is my friend."  But what if you want to insert the nominalized adjective into a structure that already includes a 的?  For instance, how about the following:

高的的旁边 gāo de de pángbiān "next to the tall one" (?)

高的的男朋友 gāo de de nánpéngyǒu "the tall one's boyfriend" (?)

I strongly suspect this is not allowed; if so, is there a way to make them work (other than introducing a 人 into the proceedings)?

Thanks!

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changye
April 17, 2010, 12:33 PM

那个“高个子”的旁边,那个“高个子”的男朋友

"高个子" means "a tall person".

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kdogg36
April 17, 2010, 01:19 PM

Thank you, changye!  I didn't know that phrase!

But I can see that I made a mistake with regard to the specific example, which obscured my question a bit.  Can you ever have two 的s in a row in situations something like the examples I gave?

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changye
April 17, 2010, 01:32 PM

Probably your examples make sense for native speakers, but I don't think it's natural Chinese. It's better to find other expressions and phrases.

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kdogg36
April 18, 2010, 12:09 PM

我觉得你说的对。我问这个问题因为我对语言学很有兴趣,要知道这个结构行不行。谢谢你帮我!

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suansuanru
April 18, 2010, 04:16 PM

here is my opinion.

It is not possible.

"高的的旁边"makes sence,but we don't say it like that,it sounds not beautiful. we say"高个子的旁边"just like what changye had said.

The only way to say two"的"is something like"打的的价格",which obviously aren't the examples you are looking for.