Connecting nouns with "shi"

Revision as of 08:03, 25 October 2013 by Mixue (talk | contribs) (→‎Examples)

The verb to be is not used in Chinese the same way as it is in English. In Chinese, 是 (shì) 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.

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

  • 学生I am a student.
  • 医生She is a doctor.
  • 老师He is a teacher.
  • This is a book.
  • 杯子That is a cup.
  • 我 的 老板She is my boss.
  • 这 些 红玫瑰
  • 你的礼物This is your gift.
  • 我的衣服That is my clothes.
  • 我的朋友You are my friend.

Be careful though. As you can see above, 是 is only used to link two nouns. It cannot be used to link a noun and an adjective. This is a very common mistake for people just beginning to learn Chinese. For that kind of sentence, you'll want to use the linking word 很.

See also

Sources and further reading