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Mythic Mandarin

Slowly and carefully: 的, 地 and 得

HSK 3 Unit 5: Interests and feelings · Lesson 2 of 5 · About 18 minutes

Preview version — Chinese review in progress.

Your mission: By the end of this lesson, you can describe how someone does something with adjective + 地 + verb, and tell the three de apart.

Warm-up: do you remember?

Two quick questions from earlier lessons. Recalling before you learn makes the new material stick.

  1. Meaning

    What does 历史 mean?

    1. to change
    2. complexion, look
    3. history
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, history.

    历史 (lìshǐ) means history.

  2. Characters

    Which word means “history”?

    1. 刚才
    2. 历史
    3. 最近
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 历史.

    “history” is 历史 (lìshǐ).

  3. Listening

    From an earlier unit. Listen. What does the word mean?

    Cannot listen? Read it instead

    牙 yá

    1. tooth
    2. to cough
    3. to change
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, tooth.

    You heard 牙 (yá): tooth.

New words

  • 地de(links a description to a verb)
  • 慢慢mànmànslowly
  • 仔细zǐxìcareful, thorough
  • 小心xiǎoxīncareful, to be careful
  • 大声dàshēngloudly

Adjective + 地 + verb

地 (de) joins a description to the verb that follows: 认真地学习, to study conscientiously. Doubled adjectives like 慢慢 often take 地.

  • 请慢慢地说。

    Qǐng mànmàn de shuō.

    Please speak slowly.

  • 他认真地看了每一个字。

    Tā rènzhēn de kàn le měi yí gè zì.

    He carefully read every character.

The three de

All three are pronounced de, but they do different jobs.

The three de
CharacterJob
的before a noun: 漂亮的衣服
地before a verb: 慢慢地走
得after a verb: 走得很慢

  • Not: 他跑的很快。

    But: 他跑得很快。 Tā pǎo de hěn kuài.

    After the verb, use 得.

  • 小心！

    Xiǎoxīn!

    Careful!

  • 别大声说话。

    Bié dàshēng shuōhuà.

    Don't talk loudly.

Characters

Open a character to see how it is written, stroke by stroke, with its meanings and words.

A calligraphy class

Sophie has her first calligraphy class with Professor Yang.

Listen first

Play the whole conversation and answer the questions before you open the transcript.

  1. Listening

    Listen first. How should you write calligraphy?

    1. quickly
    2. slowly
    3. loudly
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, slowly.

    要慢慢地写.

  2. Listening

    What does the professor praise?

    1. the paper she brought
    2. her expensive brush
    3. one character she wrote
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, one character she wrote.

    这个字你写得很好.

Show the transcript
Pinyin
Translation

  1. 杨教授

    写Xiě书法shūfǎ的de时候shíhou，要yào慢慢mànmàn地de写xiě。

    When you do calligraphy, you need to write slowly.

  2. 苏菲

    老师Lǎoshī，我wǒ写xiě得de太tài快kuài了le吗ma？

    Am I writing too fast?

  3. 杨教授

    有Yǒu一点儿yìdiǎnr。你Nǐ要yào仔细zǐxì地de看kàn每měi一yí个gè笔画bǐhuà。

    A little. You need to look carefully at every stroke.

  4. 苏菲

    好Hǎo，我wǒ会huì认真rènzhēn地de练习liànxí。

    OK, I'll practise conscientiously.

  5. 杨教授

    小心Xiǎoxīn，别bié把bǎ纸zhǐ弄nòng脏zāng了le。

    Careful, don't get the paper dirty.

  6. 苏菲

    对不起Duìbuqǐ！

    Sorry!

  7. 杨教授

    没关系Méiguānxi。你Nǐ看kàn，这个zhège字zì你nǐ写xiě得de很hěn好hǎo！

    Never mind. Look, you wrote this character very well!

Speak: listen, record, compare

Listen to each model, record yourself, then play both and compare: the rhythm, the tones, the vowels. No automatic score: your ear is the judge.

  • 写书法的时候，要慢慢地写。

    Xiě shūfǎ de shíhou, yào mànmàn de xiě.

    When you do calligraphy, you need to write slowly.

  • 有一点儿。你要仔细地看每一个笔画。

    Yǒu yìdiǎnr. Nǐ yào zǐxì de kàn měi yí gè bǐhuà.

    A little. You need to look carefully at every stroke.

  • 好，我会认真地练习。

    Hǎo, wǒ huì rènzhēn de liànxí.

    OK, I'll practise conscientiously.

Practice

  1. Meaning

    What does 地 mean?

    1. (links a description to a verb)
    2. game
    3. slow
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, (links a description to a verb).

    地 (de) means (links a description to a verb).

  2. Characters

    Which word means “slowly”?

    1. 历史
    2. 慢慢
    3. 兴趣
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 慢慢.

    “slowly” is 慢慢 (mànmàn).

  3. Pinyin

    How do you read 仔细 (careful, thorough)?

    1. zìxì
    2. zīxì
    3. zǐxì
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, zǐxì.

    仔细 is read zǐxì. Check the tone mark on every syllable.

  4. Listening

    Listen. What does the word mean?

    Cannot listen? Read it instead

    小心 xiǎoxīn

    1. to meet (up)
    2. to walk, on foot
    3. careful, to be careful
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, careful, to be careful.

    You heard 小心 (xiǎoxīn): careful, to be careful.

  5. Pinyin

    Type the pinyin of 大声 (loudly). Tone marks or tone numbers are welcome.

    Show the answer

    Answer: dàshēng

    大声 is dàshēng in pinyin.

  6. Grammar

    Which sentence is right?

    1. 他跑得很快。
    2. 他跑的很快。
    3. 他跑地很快。
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, 他跑得很快。.

    他跑得很快。 After a verb: 得.

  7. Fill the gap

    Complete: Please read it carefully.

    请仔细＿＿看。

    1. 地
    2. 的
    3. 得
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, 地.

    请仔细地看: 地 before the verb.

  8. Fill the gap

    Complete: a beautiful painting

    一张漂亮＿＿画

    1. 地
    2. 得
    3. 的
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, 的.

    一张漂亮的画: 的 before a noun.

  9. In context

    Your friend is about to step into the road. What do you shout?

    1. 小心！
    2. 仔细！
    3. 慢慢！
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, 小心！.

    小心！: 小心: careful!

How do you do it?

Describe out loud how you do five everyday things, using 地 and 得.

  1. Two things with adjective + 地 + verb.
  2. Two things with verb + 得 + adjective.
  3. Warn someone with 小心.

Sentence frames

  • 我每天认真地＿＿。

    Wǒ měitiān rènzhēn de ＿＿.

    Every day I ... conscientiously.

  • 我＿＿得很＿＿。

    Wǒ ＿＿ de hěn ＿＿.

    I ... very ...

Record your attempt (three and a half minutes at most) and listen back:

Review and finish

Can you do this? If a line feels shaky, go back to that part before you move on.

  • I use 的 before nouns, 地 before verbs and 得 after verbs.
  • I can say slowly, carefully and loudly.

Review works best spaced out: answer these exercises again tomorrow, then after a few days. Your progress is saved in this browser.

Completing records that you finished the lesson. Mastery is separate: it grows as reviews bring the exercises back and you answer them correctly.

Next lesson: How beautiful! 多么 and exclamations