Multiple Attributives
Meaning
In Chinese, a single noun can have several attributives (descriptive phrases) at the same time.
In other words, Chinese usually gives information about when or where, then what the person did or what state they were in, and then what they are like.
Basic Structure
Time / Place + Action / State + Characteristic + 的 + Noun
For example:
昨天和家月一起看电影的两个人yesterday + together with Jiayue + watched a movie + two people
数量短语 — Quantity Phrases
Phrases containing a number + measure word + noun have a relatively flexible position.
They can appear before or after an attributive describing an action or state.
两个人two people
看电影的两个人the two people who watched the movie
Examples
李文是那个穿着黑衣服的短头发的年轻人吗？
Is Li Wen that young person with short hair who is wearing black clothes?
那个 → that
穿着黑衣服的 → wearing black clothes
短头发的 → with short hair
年轻人 → young person
Here, several attributives work together to describe the same person.
昨天和家月一起看电影的两个人是我的朋友。
The two people who watched a movie with Jiayue yesterday are my friends.
昨天 → yesterday
和家月一起看电影的 → who watched a movie together with Jiayue
两个人 → two people
我那件新买的白色的衣服在哪儿？
Where is that white piece of clothing I recently bought?
我 → my
那件 → that
新买的 → recently bought
白色的 → white
衣服 → clothing
Remember
When using multiple attributives, their order matters.
General Order
Time / Place → Action / State → Characteristic → 的 + Noun
Quantity phrases are more flexible:
Action / State + 的 + Quantity + Noun
or
Quantity + Action / State + 的 + Noun
Key Idea
Multiple attributives → describe the same noun together.
For example:
昨天和家月一起看电影的两个人the two people who watched a movie with Jiayue yesterday
Here, 昨天, 和家月一起看电影的, and 两个人 work together to identify exactly which people we are talking about.