"There is a cute bird behind you."

Translation: 你的后面有一只可爱的鸟。

[gregbyron]

Why is it 可爱的鸟 and not 可爱鸟? I think I still don't understand the full function of 的.

[Charlimagnus]

In addition to Jerry's response it's also helpful to keep in mind that 的 wouldn't be required if the adjective were only one character. For example if the sentence were “There is a small bird behind you” then you could simply say 你的后面有一只小鸟. 的 is required here because 可爱 is two characters.

[Dr_Jerry]

One reason 的 is hard is because there is no functional equivalent in English. In some cases it operates like "of", but in this case it simply indicates a property that belongs to a person or thing. In English you can simply say "a pretty girl" but in Chinese you would say 很漂亮的女孩; it associates the 漂亮 as being a property the 女孩 possesses.

[mb505]

Thank you, that was helpful.

[MicahLiuba1]

Whoa Ho! I got it right on the first try! Are we learning Chinese or what!? 8/14/18

[lh07MABr]

They want an extra 的 between ke ai and niao but in the word bank there is none

[Celticfiddleguy]

As Ray says, "你后面" is acceptable. However in my word bank there were 2 "的s"; they may have changed it so it matches with the "official" translation.

[wordgeek416]

Omitting the first 的 is acceptable.

[ataylorex]

Can this be said using zài also?

[Dr_Jerry]

Yes. In fact, 在你的后面 would be more commonly used than the Duo version, in my experience.

[belstar128]

The word order is confusing here

[mendosi]

Any reason why we couln't also say 「一隻可愛的鳥在你的後面」？

[BZH1423]

As far as I know, your sentence is perfectly acceptable.

[WmXx13]

Can I put the verb 在 instead of 有？

[Hey.Tea]

No, but you could say “在你的后面有一只小鸟”.

[xtph]

why 后面你 isn't accepted？

[whsndstalb]

Wow, this course has been so bland that I forgot 「一隻、一頭、一棵、一包......」existed. Now I resort to 個 by default. At least this lesson is refreshing me.