de (complement particle) in Chinese

How to write 得

Animated stroke order — tap a character to replay. Look up any character's stroke order → Printable writing worksheet for 得 →

得 is listed in the official HSK vocabulary at HSK 2. An elementary band: common words for simple everyday exchanges.

得 in a sentence

• 他tā说shuō得de很hěn好hǎo。

  He speaks very well.

• 她tā跑pǎo得de很hěn快kuài。

  She runs fast.

• 我wǒ累lèi得de不bù行xíng。

  I'm terribly tired.

得 vs 的 vs 地

Similar and easily confused words, and how they differ.

• 的 de 's; possessive particle

  的 marks possession or attribution before nouns; 得 introduces a complement after a verb — 说得很好 'speaks well'.

• 地 de adverbial particle

  Position decides: 地 before the verb (高兴地笑 'laugh happily'), 得 after it. Both sound 'de'; only the writing differs.