tā de zuǐ hěn xiǎo.

very

Breakdown of tā de zuǐ hěn xiǎo.

• 的de: possessive particle
• 他tā: he
• 小xiǎo: small

Questions & Answers about tā de zuǐ hěn xiǎo.

What does 的 do in 他的嘴?

的 marks possession or association. Here, 他的嘴 means his mouth.

A simple way to see it:

• 他 = he / him
• 的 = possessive marker
• 嘴 = mouth

So 他 + 的 + 嘴 = his mouth

It often works a bit like English 's or of.

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Why isn’t there a 是 in this sentence?

Because 小 is an adjective, and in Mandarin adjectives can act as the predicate by themselves.

So Mandarin often says:

• 嘴很小 = the mouth is small

not:

• 嘴是小 ❌

You usually use 是 with nouns, not with simple adjective predicates.

For example:

• 他是老师。 = He is a teacher.
• 他很高。 = He is tall.

So in 他的嘴很小, 小 is doing the describing directly.

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Why is 很 used before 小?