Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

The equational verb 是 shì ‘be’ 11.4

note

some verbs can function as a stative verb and as an action verb.

有 yIu as a stative verb 有 yIu as an action verb

她很有钱。 她有了一笔钱。

她很有錢。 她有了一筆錢。

Ta hgn yiu qián. Ta yiu le yc bh qián.

she has a lot of money. she has acquired a sum of money.

she is rich.

C Glossary of grammatical terms

11.4 The equational verb 是 shì ‘be’

是 shì ‘be’ joins two noun phrases and indicates an equational relationship between them.

她是大学生。

她是大學生。

Tā shì dàxuésheng.

She is a college student.

王老师是英国人。

王老師是英國人。

Wáng lǎoshī shì Yīngguó rén.

Professor Wang is British.

The negation of 是 shì is 不是 bù shì.

她不是大学生。

她不是大學生。

Tā bù shì dàxuésheng.

She is not a college student.

王老师不是英国人。

王老師不是英國人。

Wáng lǎoshī bù shì Yīngguó rén.

Professor Wang is not British.

是 shì is used less often than the English verb ‘be.’ In particular, in Mandarin, 是 shì is ordi-

narily not used with adjectival verbs or stative verbs. In most circumstances,

Say this Not this

我的弟弟很高。 *我的弟弟是很高。

Wǒ de dìdi hěn gāo. Wǒ de dìdi shì hěn gāo.

My younger brother is very tall.

他很聪明。 *他是很聪明。

他很聰明。 他是很聰明。

Tā hěn cōngming. Tā shì hěn cōngming.

He is very intelligent.

是 shì is only used with adjectival verbs or stative verbs for special emphasis, especially con-

trastive emphasis.

你是很高！

Nǐ shì hěn gāo!

You really are tall!