Chinese word

是

Pronunciation

Pinyinshì

Meaning

  • verbbe

Example

你是学生吗？nǐ shì xué shēng ma

Are you a student?

Illustration for 是 (be)

More examples

他是老师。tā shì lǎo shī

He is a teacher.

Core concept

Marks the subject and what follows as one identity or a confirmed fact.

Common phrases

  • 我是学生wǒ shì xué shēng

    be a student

  • 你是谁nǐ shì shuí

    Who are you

  • 这是什么zhè shì shén me

    what is this

Similar words

在zài: Shows where a person or thing is located.
有yǒu: Shows that a person or thing has or possesses something.
叫jiào: States a person's or thing's name or what it is called.

Definition in Chinese

表示断定、肯定或判断的系动词，用于说明主语的身份、事实或两者相同，并可与'的'等构成强调结构。biǎo shì duàn dìng kěn dìng huò pàn duàn de xì dòng cí yòng yú shuō míng zhú yǔ de shēn fèn shì shí huò liáng zhě xiāng tóng bìng kě yǔ de děng gòu chéng qiáng diào jié gòu

Word origin

The word 是 (shì, "to be") first expressed "this" and "right" in early Chinese, then its affirmative sense developed into a way to link a subject with an identity or judgment.

Usage tips

  • For a location, Chinese normally uses a location verb instead of 是 (shì, "be"), so English sentences with be do not always translate with the same Chinese word.

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word