City University of Hong Kong CLASS CLASS
Making Sense of Grammar
1 like 0 dislike
347 views

How come 他昨天來的 is grammatical, while *他來的 is not?

asked Jan 26, 2018 in Questions about Chinese Grammar by admin (25,520 points)
edited Apr 25, 2018 by admin | 347 views

1 Answer

0 like 0 dislike

The structure "Modifier-DE (的)" is employed when the modifier is presumed to be true or given. In other words, the nature of this sentence structure is presuppositional.

For instance, in the sentence 他昨天來的 (tā zuó tiān lái de/ He came yesterday), "He came" is a presupposed action, while "yesterday" is asserted in the sentence. However,  in the sentence 他來的 (tā lái de), the presupposed verb modifies a head subordinative. Hence, due to the lack of presupposed action in this sentence, it cannot adopt the "modifier-DE" structure.

answered Jan 26, 2018 by admin (25,520 points)
edited Apr 25, 2018 by admin

1,614 questions

1,882 answers

207 comments

15,645 users

1,614 questions
1,882 answers
207 comments
15,645 users