"We have a little black dog."

Translation: 我们有一只黑色的小狗。

[mikemandalay]

Is it incorrect to write 我有一只黑小狗?

[LouisXLVII]

Never heard of 黑小狗。The Chinese typically say小黑狗

[Hedwigechouette]

"我们有一只黑色小狗" was marked wrong for not having the 的 , the answer being given as "我们有一只黑色的小狗". While I can see that's correct, is it absolutely necessary to have the 的 in there. I thought it could be omitted.

[AbunPang]

It can only be omitted in some cases. Most importantly:

• For possessives: 的 is optional if the possessor is a personal pronoun and the possessee is either a person with close personal relationship to the personal pronoun (e.g. 我(的)妈妈) or an institution that the personal pronoun is part of (e.g. 我们(的)公司)
• for adjective attributes: 的 is optional if the adjective is only one syllable and not modified by any adverbs (so 黑(的)狗 or 黑狗, but not *黑色狗). Also, if there are two one-syllable adjectives, I would use 的 at least on the one that is further away from the noun (in other words, I think 黑小狗 sounds a bit odd; I prefer 黑(色)的小狗).

[Hedwigechouette]

Excellent ! Thanks AbunPang. I knew the rule for possessives, but I didn't know that rule for adjectives. Good to know. Sounds and feels right too.

[Rytho]

Thanks for the help!

[DestinationVoid]

Thanks, that's really useful

[RebeccaJ376064]

If the adjective is more than one character, I think 的 is required.

[RobinThor]

What about 我们有黑色的小狗? Is the 一只/一条 needed here?

[linda437018]

Yes, can somebody please explain why the 一只 is obligatory here?

[TZHEDA]

Is it okay to just say 黑的小狗？

[Imnuts7]

小黑狗 is better.

[woa7dSD5]

小狗 is also puppy, right? Would it be correct to use that translation here? Is there a way to know which is meant ("puppy" or "small dog"), other than context?

[GarthBowde]

Yeah, a little black dog is a 小黑狗 or 小黑色的狗 I think.

[churringo]

Can't you omit the 色的？我们有一只黑小狗 or would that change the meaning to an "evil dog" or something like that?

[JanZeze]

I was about to write 我们有一只黑色和小的狗 idk if that's gramatically correct or not, if someone can help me and say yes or no

[GarthBowde]

No, you'd use 又. 我们有一只狗又黑又小. I think.

[c.mg.l]

Isn't 条 the measure classifier for dogs?

[Ling_G23]

Yes, 条/條 is a classifier for dogs but for pet dogs, 只 is better.

[GarthBowde]

Depends on if it is a loooong dog.

[Jason137255]

Where does 小 need to go in this sentence? I used "我们有一只小黑色的狗" but was marked wrong.

[gszeto]

I'm also curious, although the discussion above suggests that if you could put 小 first, it would be "一只小的黑狗“.

[MrC314159]

The accepted answer here is useful https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/9190/what-are-the-rules-in-chinese-for-adjective-order-when-multiple-adjectives-descr

I don't have a chinese keyboard installed on this device so I'm afraid it's pinyin only. Adjectives with 'de' must be further away than those without. So 'heisede' must come before 'xiaogou'. (And as a single syllable adjective 'xiao' does not need 'de'.)

[Imnuts7]

一条狗 is also correct.

[whiskers3]

Can't you just say 黑的小狗 and omit the 色？

[linda437018]

why can't i say this without 色的, like "我们有一只黑小狗"? Or, for that matter "我们有一只小黑狗"?