Mandarin · Chapter 16 · Lesson 15 · Grammar primer
Relative clauses with 的
Mandarin puts the whole modifying clause BEFORE the noun and joins it with 的, the reverse of English which/that/who clauses: 我买的书 (the book I bought), 昨天来的人 (the person who came yesterday), 会说中文的朋友 (a friend who can speak Chinese). There is no relative pronoun - 的 does all the work - and the head noun can drop entirely (买的 = the one bought).
The short version
Scan ahead to 的 (de) and the noun is right behind it
Mandarin loads the whole relative clause in front of the noun and pins it on with 的 (de), the exact reverse of English, and there is no word for who, which or that. The parsing trick: hunt for the 的 (de), take the word straight after it as the head, then read the run-up as description.
我买的书 wǒ mǎi de shū
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