Chinese Grammar: “是 (shì)” Sentence (Beginner)

Chinese Courses- Chinese Grammar: "是" Sentence

A sentence in which the predicate is "是 (shì)" is known as a "是" sentence in Chinese. The "是" sentence is an important sentence structure in Chinese. Here are some examples for you.

    Wǒ shì liúxuéshēng.
1. 我   是     留学生。

    I'm an overseas student.

    Tā shì lǎoshī
2. 她 是 老师。

    She is a teacher.

In "是" sentence, the object after the verb "是" is used to describe the subject. For example, in the sentence 她是老师 (Tā shì lǎoshī), the object  "老师 (lǎoshī)" after the verb "是 (shì)" is used to describe the subject "她 (tā)." The sentence structure is "subject+verb+object."

The negative forms of the two sentences are as follows:

    Wǒ bú shì liúxuéshēng.
1. 我   不  是     留学生。

    I'm not an overseas student.

    Tā bú shì lǎoshī.
2. 她 不 是 老师。

    She isn't a teacher.

You can see above that a "是" sentence becomes negative when "不" is put before "是."

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