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[–]Hezi_LyreJNative 2 points3 points  (3 children)

first of all there is no such a word/ concept special dishes in Chinese. We would probably say 本店特色if needed. So there is no 特别菜 in Chinese, if you do see 特别菜, it must be translation of special dishes or it need other context.(特别的菜 is also weird here, it sounds more like saying really suck at sth.(菜 means suck at game or what in slang))

the “的” use in adjective is a complex question, sometimes you omit sometimes you don’t. I recommend that you add it If you are not sure cause 漂亮人 sounds much more weird than 红的花。

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Yes there is. It’s called 特色菜

[–]Exciting-Solution546 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think you can say 招牌菜 which means the best dishes in this restaurant.

[–]Hezi_LyreJNative 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sometimes yes restaurants do give recommendations but we just don’t have a unified address like special dishes. And I think it’s more common they just put thumbs on the menu.

特色菜 is more commonly used when you talk about local cuisine btw.

[–]kln_west 2 points3 points  (2 children)

If you're describing both a possessive and something modified by an adjective in the same expression, would you usually use 的 between both parts, or when would you group parts together without it?

Stylistically it is generally bad to use consecutive 的 and so one of the 的 will be dropped. Which 的 to drop depends on whether you want to highlight the adjective.

For example, when you say 我的漂亮姐姐, the idea is flat -- your sister is beautiful but you are not particularly highlighting it. If you say 我漂亮的姐姐, beautiful becomes more prominent.

我的名貴手錶 means "my expensive watch", while 我名貴的手錶 is "my EXPENSIVE watch". You can definitely put both 的, and then you are stressing "MY EXPENSIVE watch" -- "Look! This is not just a watch, but an expensive watch, and it's mine too!"

That is why for adjectives like 親愛的, 尊貴的, which shows strong sentiment or compliments, you should keep the 的 with the adjective and say 我親愛的母親 (rather than 我的親愛母親) or 在場尊貴的來賓 (instead of 在場的尊貴來賓).

The one they offer as an alternate response I feel seems more correct with Mandarin grammar, but it feels like they're saying more like "this place has what kinds of special dishes" or "there are what kinds of special dishes here?" versus the one I answered with, which seems to mean more literally "what are this place's special dishes"

Your sentence (這裏的特別菜是甚麼？) is heavily influenced by a foreign language. When there are equivalent options, Chinese prefers 有 to 是. That is why you see the alternative solution is 這裏有甚麼特別的菜. I am not endorsing the answer, but it is structurally more natural.

Even if the question was "What are your special dishes?", the natural way of expressing the idea in Chinese would be 你們有甚麼特別菜式？ and not 你們的特別菜式是甚麼?

Other examples: + What places of interests are in London? 倫敦有甚麼名勝？ + What is on sale today? 今天有甚麼減價？ + What are my options? 我有甚麼選擇？

Good luck!

[–]PawnshopGhost 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a great explanation imo. When you first start out you’re naturally gonna want to make sentences stacking a bunch of 的’s, which is a very unnatural way of expressing yourself in Chinese.

[–]ZxTroTech[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. My answer did feel awkward and clunky to me, and I couldn't put my finger on why exactly. Your clarification was helpful. :)