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So the age old question of 的-地-得, when do you use which? When spoken, it all sounds the same, but on paper it depends on if it's a verb, noun, adjective. But I don't quite remember if that is all that matters or which applies to which.

Can someone refresh my memory?

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  • learn a bit of classical and you'll never get them confused, if only because constructions involving the same 得 are ubiquitous – magnetar Dec 25 '11 at 20:10
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    A grammar book I read recently suggests that it's not so important which is which and that you can use 的 in all the cases (maybe not in an important exam but in everyday use). That was confirmed by a Chinese friend who told me to use 的 where it should have been 得. To be confirmed though, but check out recent grammar books. – laurent Mar 19 '12 at 13:52
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    Forget it, even a native speaker get confused sometimes. – user1060 Sep 11 '12 at 16:32
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    I don't agree with @Laurent's grammar book. The difference among 的-地-得 is not difficult to learn. Writing in good grammar will make a good impression. – Stan Jul 29 '13 at 8:00
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    As another point of disagreement with @Laurent, it should be noted that the three are only homonyms in Mandarin. In other Chinese varieties, they are pronounced differently and replacing one with the other would sound obviously wrong when read out loud. For instance, in Cantonese, 的-地-得 are dik1-dei2-dak1. – Claw Aug 13 '13 at 8:12

12 Answers 12

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The usage of “的” is in possessive or adjectival context. E.g., (posessive) “我的狗”, or (adjectival) “真正的生意人”. Generally a noun is modified, so a noun follows it, unless it doesn't, such as “有点儿不足是难免的”, (some insufficiency is unavoidable) which is still an adjectival modifier (unavoidable), even though it modifies the noun (insufficiency) in front of it.

“地” is used usually as an adverbial modifier, following the modifier and preceding the verb. For example, in “她伤心地说” (she said sadly).

The last one, “得”, is distinct, because it's a potential complement, not a modifier. It follows a verb to show the result. So the structure is VERB + 得 + RESULT. One of the things I found confusing about this, coming from English, is that it leads to some structures that have bit of repetition. So to say "she speaks Chinese very well", you use something like "she speaks Chinese, speaks very well", i.e., “她说中文说得很好”.

Since both “得” and “地” come between a verb and something else, they can be easy to confuse. But just remember that if "de" functions as an adverb, the verb comes after it and “地” is appropriate, but if you are trying to complement or completes the verb that precedes it, then use “得”, even in weird cases like “好得很”!

For short, just remember: “地” usually appears before the verb while “得” appears after the verb. eg. “这件事漂亮地完成了。” and “这件事完成得漂亮。” these two sentences are correct in grammar, although they have slight differences in emotion.

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  • I still don't fully understand the difference between 地 and 得. What is for instance the difference between 他很好地说汉语 and 他说汉语说得很好 ? In my view both are just adverbial usages ? – Paul Praet Jul 9 '12 at 20:22
  • @PaulPraet “这件事完成得漂亮。” There isn't 了. – Mike Manilone Oct 6 '12 at 10:07
  • We won't say something like 他很好地说汉语 but 他说汉语说得很好. 得 also have the meaning of "have to" – Pete C. Sep 20 '14 at 13:18
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    For completeness, I wish this answer would also address that all three also have also have other uses: 得 (dei3) can also mean 'must' or 'have to'. 的 (di1) can also be used in 打的 meaning 'to call a cab'. Lastly, 地 (di4) can be used to mean 'place' or 'land', used in words like '地方'. – Stephen Cowley Nov 8 '18 at 18:15
  • @PaulPraet They mean exactly the same. “S A 地 V” and “S V 得 A” can be used interchangeablely. – Victor Jan 17 '19 at 17:39
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Here's a trick my Chinese teacher told me (and it rhymes!):

动前“土”，名前“白”，动形中间“双人”来。

Use 地 (土字旁) before verbs, 的 (白字旁) before nouns, and 得 (双人旁) between a verb and an adverb.

Example:

可爱的小妹妹正在快乐地拍皮球，笑得像花儿一样。

You can practice here.

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  • THIS IS AWESOME! I am going to teach it to my wife later tonight! – Avery Chan Apr 16 '13 at 3:43
  • Yeah, this is a perfect awesome answer. Thanks for the sharing. – mjb Aug 10 '14 at 1:52
  • The challenge is hilarious: 目的地的的得得的地 "the territory (地) that the taxi (的, short for 的士) at the destination (目的地) has to (得) occupy (得, short for 得到)". – Zhuoyun Wei Jul 27 '18 at 0:35
  • @ZhuoyunWei I think you had one too many 得,right? – Benjamin Wang Jun 13 at 12:41
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的 is always followed by a noun, 地 appears after adverbs, and 得 is used after verbs.

  • 你的苹果 your apple
  • 快乐地唱 sing delightfully
  • 跑得很快 run very fast
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    An interesting phenomenon, many 地 are replaced by 的 in China, TV, book, newspaper, everywhere – George Aug 19 '13 at 18:16
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It's easy to distinguish them.

  • Before a noun, like 家, we use 的, 我的家.
  • Before a verb, like 学习, we use 地, 好好地学习.
  • Before an adjective or adverb, like 快, we use 得, 跑得快.
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In fact, I dont think you need to distinguish 的 地 or 得 from others, because even as native speakers, we spend much time learning them. Also, we (even many tv programs）often use 的 instead of 地 and 得 since its convenient although its considered as a bad, even wrong way.

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    this is reassuring :-) – Stephane Rolland Sep 13 '12 at 10:46
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    I would not upvote this answer, because this is a basic ability even taught in a primary school! Some people can't choose the right one to use just because they didn't study hard even in primary school. Or they didn't pay attention to the result of a Pinyin input method, but most of them would check in hand-writing documents. 的-地-得, completely different. – Mike Manilone Oct 6 '12 at 9:59
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I have to tell you that not all Chinese can tell them apart now, although we've learnt it in primary school.

You should be really good at Chinese if you can easily tell the difference.

的 => adj. + n.

地 => adv. + v.

得 => v. + adv.

‘的’一般用在定语后面名词前面，‘地’用在状语后面动词前面，‘得’一般用在充当谓语的动词、形容词后面，补语的前面

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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – Mou某♦ Jan 24 '18 at 11:02
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What is the difference between “的”“地”and “得”, and how to use these three words? It is not an easy problem. I’m not kidding, because the pronunciation of these three word are same. So next we are going to talk about how to use the “的, 地, and 得” in Chinese. The pronunciation of these three word are same. All of them pronounced “de” with natural tone. But we cannot make them wrong in writing.

  1. “的” is a structural auxiliary word which attached at the back of an attributive modifier. It is a kind of symbol of attributive. And I can give you some structures. Adj.+的+N. 漂亮的裙子 聪明的孩子 Sb.+的+Sth. 我的书 他们的房子 Sb.+的+Sb. 他的哥哥 我的姐姐 But in this structure , “的”can be omitted. You can say “他哥哥”/“我姐姐”also.

  2. “地” is a structural auxiliary word which attached at the back of the adverbial modifier. It is a kind of symbol of adverbials. Here is a structure also. Adj.+地+V. 高兴地笑 迅速地离开

  3. “得” is a structural auxiliary word which attached at the back of the verb or adjective, the front of complement. It is a kind of symbol of complement. The structure is “V.+得+adj.” 师傅开车开得很快。 她说话说得很慢。

If you still don't know how to use “的”“地”and “得”, you can see the video http://www.hanbridgemandarin.com/course/demo/de-de-de

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“的”字用于定语和中心语之间。如：“我的书”。由于定语的中心语通常是名词，可以认为“的”一般在名字之前。

“地”字用于状语和中心语之间。如：“认真地阅读”。由于状语的中心语通常是动词，可以认为“地”一般在动词之前。

“得”字用于中心语和补语之间。如：“读得很认真”。由于补语的中心语通常是动词，可以认为“得”一般在动词之后。

另外，汉语的一般语序是：定语+主语+状语+谓语+补语+定语+宾语。

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You can remember some examples, compare with them when you use. For example, 我的书，好得很，认真地读， or 我在认真地读我的那本好得很的书.

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Put it in simple way:

-的 is used as possessive suffix or adjective suffix, i.e 我的 (I + 的 = my) or 美的 (beuaty + 的 = beautiful)

-地 is a adverb suffix, it works as -ly in English, i.e. 快地（quickness + 地 = quickly）

-得 is a particle word after a verb to soften the action (Verb), so it doesn't mean anything.

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的 = -'s , -tive, -ful

地 = -ly (before a verb)

得 = -ly (after a verb)

For example,

小明的书 = Xiaoming's book

美丽的景色 = beautiful scenery

飞快地跑 = quickly run

跑得快 = run quickly

My personal complaints:

It is indeed a problem that these three particles are pronounced the same in Mandarin. In fact, they are pronounced completely different in other Chinese.

Meaning Mandarin
(普通话)		 Cantonese
(广州话)		 Hokkien
(闽南语)		 Hokchiu
(福州话)
Attributive (定语)
[-'s , -tive, -ful]		 的 (de) 嘅 (ge3) 兮 (ê) 其 (gì)
Adverbial (状语)
[-ly (before a verb)]		 地 (de) 咁 (gam2) 仔 (á) 咯 (luó)
Complement (补语)
[-ly (after a verb)]		 得 (de) 到 (dou3) 甲 (gak) 尽 (zìng)

This is also the reason why I dislike Mandarin being chosen as the standard of Chinese. Mandarin is really poorly designed in my opinion.

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的 and 地 are easy to learn. 的 is used for adj. 地 is used for adv. 得 is not clean to be translated well.

But one good thing is even Chinese young people cannot do this separation well. The new Chinese culture book for primary school in China mainland is use 的 only. This question will be meanless within 2 decades.

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