<p>In addition to @Kang Ming's excellent answer.</p>

<p><code>的</code> is not only used as a <em>possessive suffix</em> (as in <code>我的</code>). There are other uses, don't be confused.<br>
In case of <code>你说的是什么</code>, <code>的</code> serves as <em>selector by an attribute</em>. Literally, someone asks, "what is it?", but out of all possible contexts picks up a context of the recent speech.</p>

<p>An illustration:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>你想买什么样<b>的</b>手机？ What kind of cell phone you'd like to buy?<br>
  很贵<b>的</b>。 A very expensive one.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>There's another usage of <code>的</code>, with the meaning of "certainly". See <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/907/752">this answer</a> for details.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-01T15:04:45.270Z
2012-09-02T21:55:45.640Z
2017-04-13T12:48:06.457Z
Be Brave Be Like Ukraine
<p>One other way to look at it: 我的 is not only &quot;my,&quot; but can also be, &quot;mine.&quot;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>我吃饱了，你吃我的吧。</p>
<p>I'm full, so please eat mine.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Just like in English, in Chinese you could end the sentence with either &quot;my &lt;noun&gt;&quot; or &quot;mine&quot;. When you hear this sentence and notice no noun or noun-phrase follows 的, this is perfectly OK, and you can translate the 我的 as &quot;mine&quot;.</p>
<p>But unlike English, Chinese follows a pattern. You can put other things before the 的, too. So not only can you specify 你说的事情 &quot;The issue you're talking about,&quot; you can instead say 你说的 &quot;That which you're talking about,&quot; which is awkward in English but concise and natural in Chinese.</p>

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2012-09-05T05:17:03.717Z
"What you said" is a more natural (re)phrasing in English, but yeah, we don't have the same pattern accessible to us.
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-05T02:36:26.147Z
2012-09-05T02:36:26.147Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Philip Ries
<p>The role of “的” in this case is similar to "what" in English. So</p>

<pre><code>你说 -&gt; you say
你说的 -&gt; what you say (or said, depending on context)
你做 -&gt; you do
你做的 -&gt; what you do (or did, depending on context)
你说的和你做的不一致。 -&gt; What you said does not match what you did.
他说的确实在理。 -&gt; What he said really makes sense.
情况比我们估计的更糟。 -&gt; The situation is worse than what we estimated.

你说的是什么？ -&gt; What is what you said?
</code></pre>

<p>Or more concisely:</p>

<pre><code>你说什么？ -&gt; What did you say?
</code></pre>

<p>Or even more concisely:</p>

<pre><code>什么？ -&gt; What?
</code></pre>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-14T17:28:26.427Z
2012-09-14T17:28:26.427Z
wks
<p>The full sentence should be "你说的东西是什么？" "东西" is omitted here.
In English, "What did you say" is short for "What things did you say"
"说的" here is used to prescribe something you said, but not heard (听到的), thought (想的) or did (做的).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-09-27T19:57:41.717Z
Welcome to the site, and thanks for your answer.
Don Kirkby
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2019-12-29T01:30:50.660Z
I'm tempted to think it's 说的话, rather than 说的东西.
Becky 李蓓
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2012-09-19T14:04:45.580Z
2012-09-19T14:04:45.580Z
Shirley
<p>A reasonable translation of "你说的" is: "That which you spoke".
的 turns 你说 (a verbal phrase) into 你说的 (a noun).</p>

<p>你说是什么 doesn't make any sense grammatically - it means "You said is what?" You <em>can</em> say, "你说什么" - which is literally, "You said what?" or in proper English, "What did you say?"</p>

<p>你说的是什么, however, means "That which you said is what?" or properly, "What is that which you said?"</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-31T22:05:06.693Z
2012-08-31T22:05:06.693Z
Kang Ming
<p>Consider this sentence:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>你说的是什么？</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I understand that 的 permits creating adjectives, like 我的 would be "my". But here, I can’t see how it works. What is its purpose?</p>

<usage><translation>
In 你说的是什么？, what is the purpose of 的?
# In 你说的是什么？, what is the purpose of 的?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-08-31)

Consider this sentence:

> 你说的是什么？

I understand that 的 permits creating adjectives, like 我的 would be "my". But here, I can’t see how it works. What is its purpose?

**Tags:** usage, translation


---

## 5 answers

### Answer by username_8 on 2012-08-31. Score: 13 | Accepted answer

A reasonable translation of "你说的" is: "That which you spoke".
的 turns 你说 (a verbal phrase) into 你说的 (a noun).

你说是什么 doesn't make any sense grammatically - it means "You said is what?" You *can* say, "你说什么" - which is literally, "You said what?" or in proper English, "What did you say?"

你说的是什么, however, means "That which you said is what?" or properly, "What is that which you said?"


---

### Answer by username_1 on 2012-09-01. Score: 8

In addition to @username_8's excellent answer.

`的` is not only used as a *possessive suffix* (as in `我的`). There are other uses, don't be confused.  
In case of `你说的是什么`, `的` serves as *selector by an attribute*. Literally, someone asks, "what is it?", but out of all possible contexts picks up a context of the recent speech.

An illustration:

> 你想买什么样**的**手机？ What kind of cell phone you'd like to buy?  
> 很贵**的**。 A very expensive one.

There's another usage of `的`, with the meaning of "certainly". See [this answer](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/907/752) for details.


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2012-09-05. Score: 4

One other way to look at it: 我的 is not only "my," but can also be, "mine."

> 我吃饱了，你吃我的吧。
>
> I'm full, so please eat mine.

Just like in English, in Chinese you could end the sentence with either "my <noun>" or "mine". When you hear this sentence and notice no noun or noun-phrase follows 的, this is perfectly OK, and you can translate the 我的 as "mine".

But unlike English, Chinese follows a pattern. You can put other things before the 的, too. So not only can you specify 你说的事情 "The issue you're talking about," you can instead say 你说的 "That which you're talking about," which is awkward in English but concise and natural in Chinese.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: "What you said" is a more natural (re)phrasing in English, but yeah, we don't have the same pattern accessible to us.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2012-09-14. Score: 3

The role of “的” in this case is similar to "what" in English. So

```
你说 -> you say
你说的 -> what you say (or said, depending on context)
你做 -> you do
你做的 -> what you do (or did, depending on context)
你说的和你做的不一致。 -> What you said does not match what you did.
他说的确实在理。 -> What he said really makes sense.
情况比我们估计的更糟。 -> The situation is worse than what we estimated.

你说的是什么？ -> What is what you said?

```

Or more concisely:

```
你说什么？ -> What did you say?

```

Or even more concisely:

```
什么？ -> What?

```


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2012-09-19. Score: 2

The full sentence should be "你说的东西是什么？" "东西" is omitted here.
In English, "What did you say" is short for "What things did you say"
"说的" here is used to prescribe something you said, but not heard (听到的), thought (想的) or did (做的).

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: Welcome to the site, and thanks for your answer.  
> **username_7**: I'm tempted to think it's 说的话, rather than 说的东西.  

---

