róngyì suōshuǐ huòzhě diàosè de yīfu yào shǒuxǐ, búyào yòng hōnggānjī.

Clothes that shrink or fade easily need hand-washing; don't use the dryer.

Breakdown of róngyì suōshuǐ huòzhě diàosè de yīfu yào shǒuxǐ, búyào yòng hōnggānjī.

• 或者huòzhě: or
• 用yòng: to use
• 要yào: to need to
• 的de: structural particle

Questions & Answers about róngyì suōshuǐ huòzhě diàosè de yīfu yào shǒuxǐ, búyào yòng hōnggānjī.

What is the overall structure of this sentence?

The sentence has two main parts:

• 容易缩水或者掉色的衣服 = a noun phrase meaning clothes that easily shrink or fade
• 要手洗，不要用烘干机 = instructions about what to do with those clothes

So the pattern is:

[descriptive phrase] + 的 + noun + 要 + verb phrase, 不要 + verb phrase

A very literal breakdown is:

• 容易缩水或者掉色的衣服 = clothes that are prone to shrinking or fading
• 要手洗 = need to be hand-washed
• 不要用烘干机 = do not use a dryer

How does 的 work in 容易缩水或者掉色的衣服?

Here, 的 turns the phrase before it into a modifier for the noun 衣服.

So:

• 容易缩水或者掉色 = easily shrink or fade / prone to shrinking or fading
• 的衣服 = clothes that...

This is similar to an English relative clause:

• 容易缩水或者掉色的衣服
  = clothes that easily shrink or fade

So 的 is not showing possession here. It is linking a descriptive phrase to a noun.

Why is 容易 used before 缩水 and 掉色? Doesn’t 容易 usually mean easy?