RichS Posted January 24, 2018 at 06:40 PM Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 at 06:40 PM Hey all, I've noticed that I always ALWAYS seem to run into a mental roadblock when trying to express defining relative clauses in Chinese. For those not too familiar with a defining relative clause its a clause where the part of the sentence after the relative pronoun defines, or tells you about the subject of the sentence. I'll give a few examples. The chair that I just stood up from. The group that I play games with. The place where I want to save the file. They seem really simple constructions in English but I just can't figure them out in Chinese........ The chair that I just stood up from. 我刚从那把椅子站起来的那把椅子。 or maybe 我刚在坐在它上的那把椅子 The group that I play games with. 我跟那个群一起玩儿游戏的那个群 The place where I want to save the file. 那个我想把这个文档保存于那个地方的地方 They all seem really............................. clumsy and not right, yet I can't think of how to translate any of these phrases properly. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stapler Posted January 24, 2018 at 08:43 PM Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 at 08:43 PM You're on the right track. You're just overcomplicating things. It's really just a matter of thinking of the action, dropping all the necessary English particles, and adding the 的什么. 我刚刚坐的椅子 和我打游戏的人 我要保存文件的地方 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_hyaena Posted January 24, 2018 at 09:52 PM Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 at 09:52 PM Check out 所. https://www.chineseboost.com/grammar/suo-structural-particle/ It can be used to express "that which ...". 所有 for example means "that which exists" (= everything), or "that which is owned" (= possession). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelina Posted January 25, 2018 at 06:23 AM Report Share Posted January 25, 2018 at 06:23 AM 11 hours ago, RichS said: or tells you about the subject of the sentence I assume this is the reason why word order looks awkward to you Quote In terms of information structure in discourse, English and Chinese are typologically different languages. Chinese is a topic-prominent language in which the topic plays an important role in the formation of a sentence, whereas English belongs to the group of subject-prominent languages in which the subject is an indispensable element that determines the English sentence pattern (Li & Thompson, 1976). https://repozytorium.amu.edu.pl/bitstream/10593/11318/1/SSLLT 4(1) 109-125 Li, Yang.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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