Difference between revisions of "Connecting nouns with "shi""

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{{Grammar Box}}
 
The verb ''to be'' is not used in Chinese the same way as it is in English. In Chinese, 是 is for connecting [[nouns]], and is generally not used with [[adjectives]].  
 
The verb ''to be'' is not used in Chinese the same way as it is in English. In Chinese, 是 is for connecting [[nouns]], and is generally not used with [[adjectives]].  
  
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[[Category:A1 grammar points]]
 
[[Category:A1 grammar points]]
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{{Basic Grammar|是|A1|N + 很 + Adj|我 <em>很</em> 饿 。|grammar point|ASG17BLH}}
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{{Similar|Word order}}
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{{Similar|Simple "noun + adjective" sentences}}

Revision as of 02:08, 13 June 2012

The verb to be is not used in Chinese the same way as it is in English. In Chinese, 是 is for connecting nouns, and is generally not used with adjectives.

Structure

The structure for connecting nouns with 是 is:

Noun 1 + 是 + Noun 2

This is equivalent to "Noun 1 is Noun 2" in English. In terms of sentence elements, the structure is:

Subject + 是 + Object

Chinese does not conjugate verbs. That is, the form of the verb is the same no matter who is doing it. In this case, it is always 是 and never changes. As you can see, it's easy to form simple sentences expressing to be in Chinese.

Examples

Simple 是 sentences
Subject Object
学生
医生
老师
杯子

See also

Sources and further reading

Books