How to Use the Linking Particle 是 - Part 1

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Lesson Transcript

Hi everyone, I'm Yun.

Hi 大家好,我是云。

(Hi dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì yún.)

Welcome to the Chinese Whiteboard Lessons.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to use the linking particle

事。

(Shì.)

Let's get started.

Imagine you're chatting with someone

and you want to let them know you're American.

How do you do that in Chinese?

我是美国人。

(Wǒ shì měiguó rén.)

我

(Wǒ)

means I

and

美国人

(Měiguó rén)

means American.

Now link them together with the particle here

事。

(Shì.)

我是美国人。

(Wǒ shì měiguó rén.)

I am American.

Now let's look at the sentence pattern.

Here, you start with a subject,

then add

事

(Shì)

and end the sentence with a noun.

事

(Shì)

here is like the glue that holds your sentences together.

It can be used to describe your nationality, gender, occupation, etc.

You may wonder, does that mean

事

(Shì)

equals to be in English?

Well, the answer is yes and no.

Notice that in this pattern, we use nouns after

事.

(Shì.)

And in this case,

事

(Shì)

is used like the English verb to be, but it's not always a perfect match.

For example, you can just swap in an adjective here.

If you want to say, he is smart, you can't use 事 (Shì) here.

But for now, let's just remember to connect the subject and noun with

事.

(Shì.)

Moving on to the dialogue.

When I read, I want you to pay attention to

事.

(Shì.)

Find what is the subject and what is the noun, and see how it's used in the dialogue.

你好,我叫朱正,很高兴认识你。

(Nǐ hǎo, wǒ jiào zhū zhèng, hěn gāoxìng rènshí nǐ.)

Hello, my name is Zheng Zhu, pleased to meet you.

你好,我叫马克李,很高兴认识你。

(Nǐ hǎo, wǒ jiào mǎkè lǐ, hěn gāoxìng rènshí nǐ.)

Hello, my name is Mark Lee, pleased to meet you.

你是哪里人?

(Nǐ shì nǎlǐ rén?)

Where are you from?

我是美国人。

(Wǒ shì měiguó rén.)

I am an American.

Now let's look at some speaking examples.

我是英国人。

(Wǒ shì yīngguó rén.)

I am British.

我的电话号码是12345678910。

(Wǒ de diànhuà hàomǎ shì Yī èr sān sì wǔ liù qī bā jiǔ Yī líng.)

My phone number is 12345678910。

我是学生。

(Wǒ shì xuéshēng.)

I am a student.

我是马克李。

(Wǒ shì mǎkè lǐ.)

I am Mark Lee.

Notice here, this, this, and this, these three examples, the subject is

我.

(Wǒ.)

However, this one here, the subject is a bit long.

我的电话号码.

(Wǒ de diànhuà hàomǎ.)

My Phone number.

And all these examples after

是,

(Shì,)

英国人,学生,

(Yīngguó rén, xuéshēng,)

12345678910,

(Yī èr sān sì wǔ liù qī bā jiǔ Yī líng)

马克李,

(Mǎkè lǐ,)

they are all nouns.

As we mentioned earlier, in this pattern, we only use nouns after

是。

(Shì.)

So pay attention that you can only use nouns here.

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