UPDATED: In the most basic way, 的 represents "possession" in Chinese in every way that it is used except as a "sound" on the end of a statement to express some tone or flavor. 1. Adjectives EX: 昨天在電影院裏跟我聊天的(女生) [ENG: The girl who chatted with me yesterday in the movie theater...] So 女生(nv3 sheng1) is our noun here.. the 的 is just before it.. it lets us know everything in front of the 的 is describing the 女生(our noun) -- or 女生 "possesses" all of those qualities/adjectives describing 女生. EX 2:我昨天晚上吃的飯 [The food I ate last night...] ----------------------------------------------------------- 2. Possession 他的電腦很貴 His computer is expensive -- 的 makes 'He' become 'His' or if your name is Bob, then Bob的電腦很貴, Bob's computer is expensive. -- 的 here is like ( 's ) ----------------------------------------------------------- 3. Higher level use of 的 (是....的) [Expository -- A = B] 我是...跟他一起吃飯...的(人) I ate together with him. 人 is omitted, or whatever the noun may be.. it is omitted yet it is also understood. This is really an A = B sentence. If you recall that 的 is possession, then this will make sense. Chinese sentence: 那些點心都是他昨天吃的 --above we have the 是...的 pattern. Basically it's saying A(desserts) = B(desserts). --the difference between A and B are only the adjectives/entities/qualities the noun "possesses" --So, Those desserts are the same desserts he ate yesterday. The sentence can also be said as 那些點心都是他昨天吃的點心 but desserts can be omitted and understood. A more complex way of using 是...的 那家飛機是明天要起飛的 (That airplane will take off tomorrow) 飛機 is omitted off the end of the sentence. Or read "That is the airplane that will take off tomorrow) A (airplane) = B (the "fly tomorrow" airplane) ----------------------------------------------------------- 4. Particles in Speech 的 as a particle in speech has no set guideline that governs the use of it.

hello,there.you can use '的'when you say mine我的,yours你的,theirs他们的，someone's（名字）的, and use 漂亮的pretty 她很漂亮without'的'. 她是一个漂亮的女孩.

when you speak simple oral chinese, you could know it soon. not grammar first

no connection with measure words 的 is an indicator of posession, belonging or quality

Hi menacrocco. I asked a related question a few months ago: http://www.italki.com/answers/question/151298.htm Read Fungo and JojoYang's answers – I think they explain it most simply. In your example, 在意大利南部的一个城市, the 的一个 makes clear that the town you are talking about is only one of many towns in Southern Italy. Translated long-hand into English it would be written: "A town that is located in Southern Italy". I'm only a beginner myself in Chinese but that's the way I understood it. Edit: To expand on the use of 的 a bit more, I understand 的 to be used with nouns when you want to describe the noun in more detail (and to express possession as Chris_Shen said). In your case, the noun is "town" and you are wanting to describe the town in more detail by saying where it is. Building the sentence up, you have: noun 一个城市 (a town) description 的 noun 在意大利南部的一个城市 (a town in Southern Italy) Like I say, I'm only a beginner though :-)