The "shi... de" construction for emphasizing details

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.

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 昨天'Yesterday' is emphasized.
  • 去年 到 北京 去 'Last year' is emphasized.
  • 坐 飞机 去 美国 'By plane' is emphasized.
  • 跟 他 朋友 唱歌 'With his friends' is emphasized.
  • 在 英国 学 英文 'In Britain' is emphasized.
  • 在 中国 出生 '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

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