How can I find Chinese Adjective Clause Explanations?

[LUCK]

Dear all!

I am LUCK. I know how to use English Adjective Clauses clearly, but I don't know how to use Chinese Adjective Clauses at all. For example, What must I say "I want to buy a book which is cheap"? . Where can I get Chinese Adjective Clause Explanations on line so that I can understand it more clearly? Or would you mind telling me how use Chinese Adjective Clauses if possible, especially when it's compared to English Adjective Clauses?

I will be very grateful to you and that'all your kindnesses.

I am looking forward to hearing from all.

My best regards,

LUCK

[iPaier]

English say: "I want to buy a book which is cheap" .

But Chinese say: "我I 想want to 买buy 一本a 便宜cheap 的书book".

In one word, you must use the all adjective words BEFORE the noun.

[Michaelyus]

At root, all that's different is that the adjectival clause comes after the described predicate in English, but before the predicate in Chinese. That of course has great consequences for the syntax:

I want to buy a book [which is cheap].

I want to buy a [is cheap 的] book.

我想买一本便宜的书。

Wǒ xiǎng mǎi yìběn piányì de shū.

Hmmm... bad example there, as the content of the adjectival clause is only one verb more than an adjective, so it coalesces into the normal attributive adjectival construction.

But this example does show the relationship between the attributive adjective and the equivalent relative clause in Chinese, which is always an attributive adjective at root:

I want to buy a book [that can be read in one week].

I want to buy [in one week can be-read-(complete) 的] book.

我想买一本在一个星期之内能读完的书。

Wǒ xiǎng mǎi yìběn zài yígè xīngqī zhī nèi néng dú wán de shū.

Of course semantically this example is slightly unidiomatic, just because a relative clause in Chinese is so much further removed from colloquial style than a relative clause in English. Very often it'd be more natural to break it into several clauses (and then have them all in a sentence constituting half a run-on paragraph!), which even happens in fairly formal writing.

Also, it's probably important to remember that there aren't many more clauses like this that exist in Chinese; it doesn't have anywhere near the flexibility of English or French relative clauses. The only one I can think of at the moment is the use of 所, suǒ.

From the Wikipedia page on relative clauses, in the case where the relative clause's verb has a subject but no object, the 所 may be added, and it causes... very little difference.

The fruit [that they grow] is very good.

[They grow 的] fruit is very good to-eat

他们(所)种的水果很好吃。

Tāmen (suǒ) zhòng de shuǐguǒ hěn hǎo chī.

But in the case where there is no subject, no object, just a verb in the relative clause, you either rely on context, or 所 suǒ may be added in the case of the modified noun being the recipient of the action (and therefore the English has a passive construction):

The people [who were criticised yesterday] are not here.

[Yesterday were-criticised 的] people not here.

昨天(所)批评的人都不再（这里）。

Zuótiān (suǒ) pīping de rén dōu bu zài (zhèlǐ).

In this particular case, semantically, with an animate recipient of the action 人 and a verb with 'harmful' connotations 批评, it would probably be most natural to turn it into a 'proper' passive in Chinese as well, using 被 bèi instead. The construction with 所 sounds quite awkward here.

The other Wikipedia example for the no-subject no-object case (where the context makes it clear) can take 所 quite naturally.

The money [that was won today] will pay the rent.

(was-won today 的) money pay rent.

今天(所)赢的钱付房租。

jīntiān (suǒ) yíng de qián fù fáng zū.

Wikipedia makes one other point in the Mandarin section of its "Relative clauses" article: in the cases where English has to resort to the preposition 'with' (with the whole dangling preposition issue), Chinese simply uses both subject and object:

The pen with which I write letters is gone. / The pen I write letters with is gone.

[i write letters 的] pen is gone.

我写信的笔没了！

Wŏ xiě xìn de bǐ méile!

I'm not sure that it's possible to keep this type of relative clause for any other prepositions in English. Hopefully someone will come along and fill this in.

[LUCK]

Dear Michaelyus!

I can't say how happy and proud I am after I get almost all the Relative Explanations here, especially when it is compared to English. That really helped me and I am very very grateful to you, dear Michaelyus.

My Chinese is very poor because all I know is just self-study lessons and researches in the forums because I like Chinese and it's my favorite language. Hope you don't mind explaining to me if I need helps later.

Here is s.th I would like you to correct if I am making mistakes.

(1)"I know a man who lives here." ; (2)"The classmate I introduced to you is my good friend." ;

Let me say it in Chinese like this.

（1）我认识的人住在这里。还是　住在这里的人是我好朋友。

（2）我介绍给你的同学是我好朋友。还是 我好朋友的同学(是)我介绍给你。

Sorry if I am making mistakes. Please help to explain and give me the possible meanings relating to 2 sentences above if you don't mind.

Thanks a lot and best wishes to you.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

My Best Regards,

LUCK

[yonglin]

Disclaimer: I don't know much about grammar. I'm not a native speaker. However, I thought we could 互相学习，请大家多指教!

If I understand your original sentences correctly, I would probably say "I know a man who lives here" as

我认识住在这里的一个（男）人 ("I know one person (man) who lives here (but there are probably also a lot of other people living here who I don't know)”, or perhaps

我认识一个住在这里的（男）人 ("I know a person (man) who lives here (more stress on the person rather than the fact that he lives here)", or perhaps

我认识的一个（男）人住在这里 ("A man I know (happens to) live here.")

For 我认识的人住在这里, I think this can be misread as 我认识的人都住在这里 ("every person I know lives here") -- I think this is why I have this urge to add 一个 to the sentence above.

For 住在这里的人是我好朋友, I think this sounds ok although surely a good friend and an acquaintance are quite different...? I think you can also say 住在这里的人是我认识的 or 我认识住在这里的人. However, this sentence means that you know everyone living there, i.e., there can be no people living there who you don't know. This is a little different from the English sentence, I think...?

For "The classmate I introduced to you is my good friend.", I'd probably say 我给你介绍的同学是我好朋友, although I'm not sure why I like this better than 我介绍给你的同学是我好朋友...? I think both could work...? As for, 我好朋友的同学(是)我介绍给你, I think the meaning is actually *very* different from your English sentence: 我好朋友的同学 certainly means "my good friend's classmate" and not my (or our) classmate.