Is the pronunciation of 的 as "de" or "di" dependent on dialect/accent or is there a rule? Hi, I was wondering whether there is a reason why some Mandarin speakers will pronounce the character 的 as "di", and some as "de". I have been studying Mandarin for almost a year, and have only recently been trying to get into speaking it with some people, so I noticed that some will say "di" and some will say "de". I'm assuming it's just dialect or accent, but I'd like to be sure! :)