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A1 · Grammar reference · ASGUN7RX

Connecting nouns with "shi"

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

Noun 1 + 是 + Noun 2

Keywords
是 · is · be
Used for
Introducing people · Describing people · Expressing existence · Referring to the present
Classification
HSK1

Examples (15)

我是学生。

你是John吗?

他们是有钱人。

你是老板吗?

这是我男朋友。

那是你们公司吗?

你妈妈是老师吗?

这都是你的钱。

那是什么菜?

我也是他的朋友。

他没听到,是不是?

你是不是还没吃饭?

你们是不是中国人?

你到了,是吗?

你有两个孩子,是吗?

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Full explanation at AllSet Learning

Summary, structure, classification, and adapted sentence examples draw from the AllSet Learning Chinese Grammar Wiki under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0; changes were made. This noncommercial reference is based on an October 2023 snapshot.

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