Chinese (Mandarin)/Lesson 7

= Lesson 7: 这是什么? What's this? =

Text 1
You can check out the translations here.

Stroke orders

 * [[Image:王-bw.png|250px]]
 * [[Image:明-bw.png|450px]]
 * [[Image:李-bw.png|400px]]

More stroke orders will be added if it's helpful.

Chinese Names
In this lesson, we learn how to say "something is something" in Chinese. The first thing you need to know is that the sentence structure of Chinese is very similar to that of English in that they both follow the pattern of Subject-Verb-Object (SVO). But unlike many Western languages, verbs in Chinese aren't conjugated and noun and adjective endings don't change. They are never affected by things such as time or person.

这(/那)是什么？
This sentence means "What's this/that?":
 * 1) 这是什么？(What's this?)
 * 2) 那是什么？(What's that?)

The sentences, if broken down literally, shows that the ordering of words differs in English and Chinese:

The order of the sentences may seem a little bit tricky, but don't worry about that, we will discuss this later.

A　是　B
This sentence means "A is B."

"是" (shì), the equational verb to be, can be used as the English is or equals. When used in a simple Subject-Verb-Object sentence, the subject defines the object. Since Chinese verbs never change, no other forms for shì exist such as was or am in English. Also, articles like a and the are absent in Chinese. They are not translated.

For example:
 * 1) 这是书 (zhè shì shū): this is (a) book.
 * 2) 那是杂志 (nà shì zázhì): that is (a) magazine.

A　不是　B
This sentence means "A is not B." in which shì is negated when preceded by "不" (bu). "不" literally means "no", "not".

For example:
 * 这不是书 (zhè bú shì shū): this is not (a) book.

Now, we come back to the "what's this/that?" questions. We already see that the order is a bit tricky comparing to the English question order. But comparing to the latter pattern "A　是　B", we find the similarity: their orders are identically the same. In fact, like particles, question words make statements into questions without changing the order of the sentence. To make one, simply substitute the QW in where the subject would be in the answer.

Comparison:
 * 1) 这是书. (This is (a) book.)
 * 2) 这是什么？(This is what?)


 * 1) 那是杂志. (That is (a) magazine.)
 * 2) 那是什么？(That is what?)

吗
"吗"(ma) is a final interrogative particle used to form a question sentence. Adding this character at the end of a statement transforms the sentence into a question.

Example 1:
 * 这是书 (zhè shì shū). (This is (a) book.)
 * 这是书吗 (zhè shì shū ma)？(Is this (a) book?)
 * 这是书吗 (zhè shì shū ma)？(Is this (a) book?)

Example 2:
 * 这不是杂志 (zhè bú shì zázhì). (This is not (a) magazine.)
 * 这不是杂志吗(zhè bú shì zázhì ma)？(Isn't this (a) magazine?)
 * 这不是杂志吗(zhè bú shì zázhì ma)？(Isn't this (a) magazine?)

是/不
"是" (shì) can be used to answer a simple yes/no question. In this case, "是" means yes, whilst "不" (bú) or "不是" (bú shì) means no (literally, not is).

How to answer yes/no questions correctly in Chinese? Usually, it's the same as in English, but pay attention if the questions are negative, like "Isn't this a book?". In Chinese, you answer to the questions, not the fact. If the question itself is a negative answer, use "不是" or simply "不", vice versa. For example:
 * A: 这不是书吗？zhè bú shì shū ma? (Isn't this (a) book? = This is not a book, right?)
 * B: 是，这不是书. shì, zhè bú shì shū. (No, this is not (a) book. = You are right; this is not a book.)
 * B: 不，这是书. bù, zhè shì shū. (Yes, this is (a) book. = You're wrong; this is a book.)

A asks if that's a book in a negative way. If the object is not a book, you should nevertheless approve A's saying first. So we use "是" to acknowledge that A is correct, and then say "this is not (a) book" to emphasis A is right; In the case of that is a book, you should deny A's saying first, using "不" (no) to point out A is wrong, then make a new statement by noting that "这是书" (this is (a) book). One more example:
 * 他今天晚上不来参加宴会了，对吗？(He's not going to the party tonight, is he?)
 * 不，他肯定要来. (Yes, he's definitely coming.)
 * 是 啊，他很忙呢！(No, he's so busy!)

的
Character "的" (de) indicates that the previous word has possession of the next one. In English it functions like 's or like the word of but with the position of possessor and possessee switched. For example:
 * 1) 史密斯(Shǐmìsī)的书(shū: book) <-> Smith's book
 * 2) 王明的钢笔 <-> Wang Ming's pen
 * 3) 约翰** (Yuēhàn: John)的朋友** (péngyǒu: friend) <-> John's friend or a friend of John's

Exercise

 * 1) Replace the underline words, and practice.
 * 2) 史密斯是 美国人.
 * 3) *英国人
 * 4) *法国人
 * 5) 这不是 杂志.
 * 书
 * 1) *笔记本*
 * 2) *铅笔
 * 3) Replace the underline words, and then answer the questions with both positive answers and negative answers.
 * 4) *Example:
 * 5) *史密斯是 法国人 吗？
 * 6) **是，史密斯是 法国人.
 * 7) **不，史密斯不是 法国人.
 * 8) 那是 杂志 吗？
 * 9) *钢笔
 * 10) *铅笔
 * 11) *报纸*
 * 12) 王明是 学生 吗？
 * 13) *律师
 * 14) *老师*
 * 15) *作家*
 * 16) Translate the following English into Chinese.
 * 17) Wang Ming is not a teacher. Wang Ming is a student. Wang Ming is a Chinese. Wang Ming is not an American.
 * 18) *Answer(答):Wang Ming不是老師. Wang Ming是學生. Wang Ming是中國人. Wang Ming不是美國人.
 * 19) Smith is a lawyer. Smith is not a writer. Smith is an American. Smith is not a French.
 * 20) *Answer(答):Smith是律師. Smith不是作家. Smith是美國人. Smith不是法國人.
 * 21) This is Smith's book. That is Wang Ming's pen.
 * 22) *Answer(答):這是Smith的書. 那是Wang Ming的筆.

Translation for the text
de:Chinesisch: Lektion 7 Cinese/Lezione 7 Chiński/Podstawy/Lekcja 7