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Level Foundations · HSK 1

是 and Simple Sentences: Pronouns, 是 and 不

Good news first: the basic Chinese sentence runs subject, verb, object, just like English. Better news: nothing changes shape. 是 (shì, to be) is the same for I, you, she and they, and it is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. There are no articles (a, the) and nouns don't take a plural ending.

The catch is that 是 is narrower than English "to be". It links two nouns ("she is a teacher"), but not a noun and an adjective (that's a separate pattern, see the guide on adjectives), and it usually drops out of sentences about age, prices and dates.

Personal pronouns

Chinese pronouns have no separate object form: 我 (wǒ) is both I and me, 他 (tā) both he and him. To make any of them plural, add 们 (men).

他 (he), 她 (she) and 它 (it) are all pronounced tā. Only the written form tells them apart, so in speech context does the work. 您 (nín) is the polite you, for older people, teachers and customers.

SingularPlural
I / we我 wǒ我们 wǒmen
you你 nǐ (polite: 您 nín)你们 nǐmen
he / she / it他 / 她 / 它 tā他们 / 她们 / 它们 tāmen

  • 我们是学生。

    Wǒmen shì xuésheng.

    We're students.

  • 他们是老师。

    Tāmen shì lǎoshī.

    They're teachers.

  • 您是王老师吗？

    Nín shì Wáng lǎoshī ma?

    Are you Teacher Wang? (polite)

A 是 B

是 joins two nouns: who or what someone is. There's no word for "a" or "the", so 她是医生 is simply "she is a doctor". The noun also stays the same in the plural: 他们是学生 (they are students), never 学生们 after a plural subject.

  • 我是美国人。

    Wǒ shì Měiguó rén.

    I'm American.

  • 她是医生。

    Tā shì yīshēng.

    She's a doctor.

  • 李明是我朋友。

    Lǐ Míng shì wǒ péngyou.

    Li Ming is my friend.

Negating with 不

Put 不 (bù) right before the verb: 不是 means "is not". 不 is normally fourth tone, but before another fourth tone it changes to second: bú shì. This course writes 不 with the tone you actually say.

  • 他不是医生。

    Tā bú shì yīshēng.

    He isn't a doctor.

  • 我不是中国人，我是英国人。

    Wǒ bú shì Zhōngguó rén, wǒ shì Yīngguó rén.

    I'm not Chinese, I'm British.

Number sentences without 是

When the description is a number (age, price, date, floor), Chinese usually leaves 是 out: 我二十岁 is literally "I twenty years". In the negative, though, 是 comes back, because 不 needs a verb to attach to: 我不是二十岁.

  • 我二十岁。

    Wǒ èrshí suì.

    I'm twenty.

  • 咖啡三十块。

    Kāfēi sānshí kuài.

    The coffee is thirty yuan.

  • 今天星期一。

    Jīntiān xīngqīyī.

    Today is Monday.

  • 他不是十八岁，他十九岁。

    Tā bú shì shíbā suì, tā shíjiǔ suì.

    He isn't eighteen, he's nineteen.

Common mistakes

  • ✗我是很忙。

    ✓我很忙。

    Wǒ hěn máng.

    是 links nouns, not adjectives. English "I am busy" becomes "I very busy" in Chinese.

  • ✗我不二十岁。

    ✓我不是二十岁。

    Wǒ bú shì èrshí suì.

    不 can't negate a number directly. Bring 是 back in the negative.

  • ✗他们是学生们。

    ✓他们是学生。

    Tāmen shì xuésheng.

    Ordinary nouns don't mark the plural. 们 goes on pronouns and on a few nouns for people when addressing a group (同学们), never after a subject that is already plural.

Questions learners ask

When should I use 您 instead of 你?

Use 您 (nín) with older people, teachers, customers and anyone you want to show respect to, especially when you first meet. Between friends and people your age, 你 is normal. For a group, say 你们 or 大家 (dàjiā, everyone); 您们 is rare.

How do I say "a" or "the"?

You don't need to. Context tells the listener which you mean. When you count something you add a number and a measure word (一个学生, one student), and 这/那 (this, that) do some of the work of "the"; see the guide on measure words.

Practice this in lessons

The Foundations lessons teach this step by step, with exercises and review built in.

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