The "shi... de" construction for emphasizing details
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- Also known as: 是⋯⋯的结构 (shì ... de jiégòu), 是 ... 的 sentence and 是 ... 的 pattern.
The 是 ... 的 construction appears commonly in Chinese and is used to draw particular attention to certain information in a sentence. It's often used to respond to questions that seek specific information, or to explain a situation by emphasising a particular detail.
Contents
Basic 是 ... 的 structure
A 是 ... 的 sentence is formed with this structure:
Subject + 是 + information to emphasized + Verb + 的
This structure can be used to emphasise any detail, but most commonly it emphasises time, manner, or place.
Some examples:
- 我们 是 昨天 来 的。 'Yesterday' is emphasized.
- 他 是 去年 到 北京 去 的。 'Last year' is emphasized.
- 她 是 坐 飞机 去 美国 的。 'By plane' is emphasized.
- 他 是 跟 他 朋友 唱歌 的。 'With his friends' is emphasized.
- 我 是 在 英国 学 英文 的。 'In Britain' is emphasized.
- 你 是 在 中国 出生 的。 'In China' is emphasized.
Picking out different details with 是 ... 的
As mentioned above, a 是 ... 的 construction can pick out any detail in a sentence. Whatever comes immediately after 是 is emphasized. So in the sentence below:
- 我 上 个 星期六 跟 我 家人 在 饭馆 吃饭。
We can pick out any one of the details by putting 是 in front of it:
- 我 是 上 个 星期六 跟 我 家人 在 饭馆 吃饭 的。
- 我 上 个 星期六 是 跟 我 家人 在 饭馆 吃饭 的。
- 我 上 个 星期六 跟 我 家人 是 在 饭馆 吃饭 的。
When to use 是 ... 的
"The situation is that"
"It was ... that ..."
Negating 是 ... 的
是 ... 的 and questions
是 is often optional
Where to put 的 in a 是 ... 的 construction
Sources and further reading
Books
- Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar (pp. 587 - 594)
Websites
- University website: The shi ... de construction
- East Asia Student: The 是 … 的 construction in Mandarin
