Defining Relative Clauses in Chinese.

[RichS]

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.

 

[stapler]

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

[happy_hyaena]

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).

[Angelina]

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