的 Links Modifier to Noun 39,808 Times
Answering: “how does Chinese link a modifier to a noun”
Updated 2026-09-26 · plain text · JSON
的 links whatever describes a noun to the noun itself — an owner, an adjective or a whole clause. 神的爱 is 'the love of God'; 信他的 is 'the one who believes in him'.
- HSK level
- 1
- derived from its own words
- In the Bible
- 39,808
- clauses, approximately
- Meet it first in
- Psalms
- where it is commonest
- How sure
- Approximate
- 87% of a checked sample
Practise it
Tap the words that carry the pattern.
。
The same verses, in full
Easiest first: ranked by how much of each verse sits at or below HSK 1, the point’s own level. Colours are tones. Nothing here was written for the page — every line is in the text.
我wǒ要yào回答huí dá你nǐ和hé在zài你nǐ这里zhè lǐ的de朋友péng you。
I will answer you, and your companions with you.
Job 35:4 · 100% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
旁边páng biān站zhàn着zhe的de人rén，有的yǒu de听见tīng jiàn就jiù说shuō：「看kàn哪nǎ，他tā叫jiào以利亚yǐ lì yà呢ne！」
Some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”
Mark 15:35 · 93% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
他们tā men对duì他tā说shuō：「你nǐ的de眼睛yǎn jing是shì怎么zěn me开kāi的de呢ne？」
They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”
John 9:10 · 92% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
并且bìng qiě你们nǐ men要yào吃chī儿子ér zi的de肉ròu，也yě要yào吃chī女儿nǚ ér的de肉ròu。
You will eat the flesh of your sons, and you will eat the flesh of your daughters.
Leviticus 26:29 · 92% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
进jìn他tā家里jiā lǐ去qù，要yào请qǐng他tā的de安ān。
As you enter into the household, greet it.
Matthew 10:12 · 89% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
说shuō：「请qǐng告诉gào sù我wǒ，你nǐ是shì谁shuí的de女儿nǚ ér？你nǐ父亲fù qīn家里jiā lǐ有yǒu我们wǒ men住宿zhù sù的de地方dì fāng没有méi yǒu？」
and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room in your father’s house for us to stay?”
Genesis 24:23 · 89% of this verse’s words are at or below the point’s own HSK level
Go and meet it in the text
- Read Job 35 — where the first example above comes from, with every word tappable.
- The rest of HSK 1 grammar — the other points at this level, with their counts.
- The HSK 1 word deck — the vocabulary side, ordered by how often the Bible uses it.
What the Bible does with it
的 is the commonest word in the Chinese Bible and the first piece of grammar a reader meets. Whatever describes a noun — an owner, an adjective, a whole clause — is placed in front of it and joined with 的, so 神的爱 is the love of God and 信他的 is the one who believes in him. English builds the same idea in two directions, before the noun and after it; Chinese only builds it in one.
The Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified) uses 的 46,871 times. 7,063 of those occurrences are the same words doing something else.
The occurrences that are not this construction are mostly the headless kind, where 的 ends the phrase and the noun is left to be understood — 所吩咐的, what was commanded. That is the same particle doing a related job, and it is the shape the New Testament letters lean on hardest.
It is commonest in Psalms, with 3,121 of them, and 79% of all of them fall in the Old Testament — which is mostly a statement about length, since the Old Testament is the longer part of the book.
| Word | Reading | HSK | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|
| 的 | de | 1 | 46,850 |
| 的 | dī | 1 | 16 |
| 的 | dì | 1 | 5 |
The HSK column is the level data/dict.json gives the word, and it is what puts this point at level 1.
| Occurrences | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| the construction | 39,808 | 85% |
| the same words doing something else | 7,063 | 15% |
| Book | Clauses |
|---|---|
| Psalms | 3,121 |
| Jeremiah | 2,191 |
| Isaiah | 2,187 |
| Ezekiel | 1,981 |
| Genesis | 1,789 |
Counted from what the rule matched, before the audit — a ranking, not a published total.
Approximate
The rule: 的 read de, with another word after it in the same clause — the noun it modifies.
30 of 39,808 matches were drawn at random and read in context; 87% were right. Checked by Claude Opus 5, reading each sampled clause in context; not a native speaker. Recall is not measured: this is what the rule finds, not everything the translation contains.
This point is HSK 1 because that is the highest HSK level of the point's own function words, as data/dict.json grades them; a word the HSK lists do not grade sends the point to 'beyond'.
Questions
- Is 的 the same as an apostrophe-s?
- It covers that and more. Possession is one use; the same particle attaches an adjective or an entire clause, which is why it can appear 46,871 times in one book without ever meaning only "belonging to".
- How often does it occur in the Chinese Bible?
- about 39,808 clauses in the Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified), out of 46,871 occurrences of the words that mark it.
- Which book of the Bible uses it most?
- Psalms, with 3,121 — followed by Jeremiah (2,191), Isaiah (2,187), Ezekiel (1,981).
- How do you know the count is right?
- The rule is: 的 read de, with another word after it in the same clause — the noun it modifies. 30 of its 39,808 matches were drawn at random and checked one by one; 87% were right. Recall is not measured, so the figure is what this rule finds, not everything the translation contains.
Related reference pages
Take it further
- 97 ready-made vocabulary decks — by HSK level, by book or by topic, exportable to Anki, Pleco or Quizlet.
- Printable 田字格 worksheets — passages with pinyin, meanings and tracing rows.
- The parallel reader — Chinese, pinyin and your own language side by side, every word tappable.
- The dataset behind these numbers — plain JSON, free to reuse with attribution.
How this was measured
Edition: Chinese Union Version (和合本, simplified). Every figure comes from one pass over all 1,189 chapters and 31,021 verses, 650,628word tokens in total, using the site’s own segmentation. A construction count is published only when a hand-checked sample of the rule that found it was at least 90% correct; between 70% and that it is published as an approximation, and below it no count is published at all. Generated 2026-09-26.