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I came across the following sentence: 如果不是这样的话，那你为什么生我的气
I haven't seen 生气 as a verb before and was confused by the grammar of 生我的气 but didn't know how to google it as I don't even have the language to describe the situation well. Can someone point me in the right direction to this aspect of Chinese grammar? Thanks!
生气 is a verb for "get angry; take offence"
'的' in 生我的气 is an 'adjectival particle' that turns the noun '我'(I) into '对我的'(toward me)
'生气' (get angry) --> '生(对)我的(怒)气' = ( 生气 *at me**) = (get angry at me)
'生气' is a two characters verb, but '气' in '生我的气', is treated as a noun '怒气'
more example:
'发火' (get mad) -->'发不必要的火' = (发 unnecessary 火) = (get mad unnecessarily )
'发火' is a two characters verb, but '火' in '发不必要的火' is treated as a noun '怒火'
A more telling example:
问话 [ask word] = questioning
问你的话 [ask your word] = questioning you
'话' here is treated as a noun 'words' instead of part of the two characters word 问话 (questioning)
"生气" is a verb, or often used as a verb: ”他生气了。” “怎么又生气了？”
”生我的气“ specifies the target (or cause) of "生气". So if "生气" means "mad" (or "upset", or "angry"), "生我的气" means "mad/upset at me".
Here's another instance of a similar structure: "沾我的便宜“ => take advantage of me."
In both cases, "我的“ appears to mean "my" (possessive) in Chinese, but "我的“ actually translates into "at me" or "of me", making "me" the target/object of the action (vs the owner/cause of the action).
