30 describing people, places, and things
30.1 equational sentences: identifying or describing the subject
with a noun phrase in the predicate
是 shì links the subject with a noun phrase in the predicate that identifies or describes it.
Sentences with this form are equational sentences.
subject 是 shì noun or noun phrase
赵玫玲是学生。
趙玫玲是學生。
Zhào Méilíng shì xuésheng.
Zhao Meiling is a student.
苏州是一个城市。
蘇州是一個城市。
Sūzhōu shì yī gè chéngshì.
Suzhou is a city.
奔驰是一种车。
奔馳是一種車。
Bēnchí shì yī zhǒng chē.
The Mercedes Benz is a type of car.
C11.4, 29.1
30.2 Describing the subject with a predicate that is an adjectival verb
Adjectival verbs may serve as the predicate of the sentence to describe the subject. The intensifier
很 hěn often occurs before the adjectival verb, especially if it is a one-syllable adjectival verb.
Notice that 是 shì is not used when the predicate is an adjectival verb.
subject (很 hěn) adjectival verb
赵玫玲很聪明。
趙玫玲很聰明。
Zhào Méilíng hěn cōngming.
Zhao Meiling is very smart.
苏州很漂亮。
蘇州很漂亮。
Sūzhōu hěn piàoliang.
Suzhou is very beautiful.
