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I often come up with the same problem in Chinese. How to use 的 in very long and complex sentences like:

"He's the guy who just employed a person who doesn't even know how to work."

I'd translate it as:

他是刚刚雇佣一个不会工作（的）人的 那家伙.

I'm quite puzzled by the double 的. I saw somewhere that it was possible to use 2 的 like this but I hardly ever see it and wonder how to use it when, as far as I'm concerned, using a double is inevitable. I also read that you could remove the first 的, which I think is more commonplace. But I'd like to know what Chinese native speakers think about this wording.

Another example:

The girlfriend of the guy from the shop whose dad was a plumber... 有父亲当管子工（的）商人那边的女朋友 ？

I know it's a tad complex (I do it on purpose), but I really wanna know how to translate that sort of sentences in Chinese because I happen to say things like that.

Rewording might as well seem fit because of different cultural way of thinking but I'm really curious about the good grammar to use behind that.

So here are my questions:

  • How many 的 am I allowed to put in?
  • What are the 的 I can remove?
  • How come I never see this sort of thing in Chinese?
  • Do you have any advice to cope with this sort of grammatical conundrum in the future?

Any advice will be much appreciated.

多谢

Becky 李蓓
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Mat
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    It may help you to understand the usage of 的 more by reading this https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/32029/to-%e7%9a%84-or-not-to-%e7%9a%84 – Tang Ho Mar 28 '20 at 09:29
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    also https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/22204/why-there-is-no-%e7%9a%84-after-%e4%bd%a0-in-%e4%bd%a0%e5%9b%bd%e5%ae%b6%e7%9a%84%e5%8c%bb%e9%99%a2%e5%a5%bd%e5%90%97 – Tang Ho Mar 28 '20 at 09:31
  • Thanks for your input mate ! However, it only partially answers my questions. I already read these kinds of answers somewhere. Just out of curiosity, as a native speaker, how would you translate those sentences ? If, for instance I wanna translate some like "the cousin of the sister of the mother of his dad ?" There's no way around but using "的" many a time, am I right ? Not trying to be pedantic here, just trying to get to the bottom of it. – Mat Mar 28 '20 at 12:08
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    1、他就是那个小伙，刚才雇佣了一个甚至不知道怎么工作的人。2、商店那个父亲是水管工的小伙的女朋友。 – Toosky Hierot Mar 28 '20 at 12:22
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    The reason you never see this sort of thing is that Chinese language doesn't prefer long attributive and modifiers. The natural way to say them is: 1、就是他雇了个人，甚至都不会工作。2、她男朋友就是店里那个爸爸是水管工的小伙子。 – Toosky Hierot Mar 28 '20 at 12:32
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    As for "the cousin of the sister of the mother of his dad", it is inevitable to use many 的... 他父亲的母亲的姐妹的堂表兄弟姐妹. But we do have a word referring to this relationship:1、姐妹的堂表兄弟姐妹=自己的堂表兄弟姐妹2、父亲的母亲是祖母3、母亲的堂表兄弟姐妹称堂/表/舅/姨 最后可得“父亲的母亲的姐妹的堂表兄弟姐妹” 称为 堂/表/舅爷/姨奶 – Toosky Hierot Mar 28 '20 at 13:05
  • Thanks a lot for your input ! Seriously ! This sentence (她男朋友就是店里那个爸爸是水管工的小伙子) is very interesting for me because you avoid using "的" in an elegant way with "jiushi dianli na ge"... It circumvents what I would have translated "whose dad is". I really wish I could know more about how to use that "na ge" in such cases. Anyway, it certainly is food for thought. – Mat Mar 28 '20 at 15:33

1 Answers1

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"He's the guy who just employed a person who doesn't even know how to work."

we translate to 他就是雇用了那個連工作都不知道如何做的人的人(傢伙)。

the girlfriend of the guy from the shop whose dad was a plumber.

we translate to 店裡那傢伙的女友的爸爸是水管工

How many 的 am I allowed to put in ? You can put whatever you want but the sentence need to to reasonable.

What are the 的 I can remove ? ()means can omit

他(的)哥哥的新(的)手機的價錢是多少?

How come I never see this sort of thing in Chinese ? This sort of thing is lengthy.we say 他哥新手機的價錢是多少? is same as previous answer.

Do you have any advice to cope with this sort of grammatical conundrum in the future ? It is not a big problem for you to communicate with other because people like simple.

jack chiou
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