Grammar · Nouns
的 for possession and description
的 links a describer to a noun, like the English apostrophe s and more besides.
Whatever describes a noun comes before it, joined by 的, de: my book, the teacher's name, the red car. With close relationships and very common pairings the 的 is usually dropped, so my mum is 我妈妈, wǒ māma, and a Chinese person is 中国人.
Examples
我的书
wǒ de shū
my book
老师的名字
lǎoshī de míngzi
the teacher's name
我妈妈
wǒ māma
my mum
close family, so no 的
红色的车
hóngsè de chē
the red car
Watch out: the mistake this causes
Putting the describer after the noun, as French and Spanish do. In Chinese it always comes first.