是…的 (shì…de) is a very common and important structure in Mandarin Chinese
grammar. It’s essential for any student of Chinese to learn and be familiar
with, and comes up constantly in written and spoken Chinese.
There are two key things to note about the 是…的 construction:
It’s used to emphasize a detail in a sentence.
是…的 sentences are usually about past events.
Most beginner’s Chinese textbooks and courses place a lot of emphasis on the
是…的 construction because it’s so common. This is good as everyone should learn
it.
As with all grammar, though, remember not to get lost in memorising ‘rules’ and
set structures. The more Chinese you read and listen to, and the more you
practice, the more natural these structures will become. That’s always the best
way to learn.
The 是…的 (shì…de) structure
As you can see in the name of this structure, something goes in between 是 and
的! Whatever goes in between those two words is the thing that will be
emphasized or focused on in the sentence. So in the most basic way, the
是…的 structure is simply this:
是 [thing to be emphasized] 的
But how do you use that in a sentence? The full structure is as follows
(pay most attention to where 是 and 的 are):
[subject] 是 [thing to be emphasized] [verb] 的
As you can see, we actually get the verb in between 是 and 的 as well as the
thing we want to emphasize. The thing we emphasize is some detail about the
action of the verb. This detail is often described as being time, manner or
place, but really it can be anything.
Let’s have a look at some initial example sentences for this structure:
Notice how there is some detail about the action of the verb included in the
是…的 structure. Also notice how these sentences are all about things
in the past.
An equivalent structure in English might be “it was … that”. So the above
sentences could also be translated as:
“When was it that you got here?”
“It was by train that she went to Shanghai.”
“It was in Germany that he grew up.”
Notice how those sentences draw attention to particular details about the action
of the verb. That structure is a little bit unusual in English, though, whereas
是…的 is super common and normal in Chinese.
How 是…的 is used
As mentioned above, the 是…的 construction is used to
give focus to a specific detail in a sentence (as well as indicating that it’s
about the past). Whatever is placed right after 是 is emphasized.
The detail that gets emphasized is often described as being about the time,
manner or place of the verb. Whilst the detail might actually be anything,
these make nice categories to focus on. Let’s look at each one in turn.
Emphasizing time with 是…的
You can use 是…的 to emphasize the time that the action took place. Have a
look at some example sentences:
Notice how the time the action took place comes immediately after 是. That’s how
the 是…的 construction works: you put the thing you want to emphasize after 是,
then the verb, then finish it with 的.
English translations that emphasize the detail more heavily have been given
underneath. Remember, though, that the 是…的 structure in Chinese is much more
natural and commonly used than that English structure might suggest.
Notice the slightly different word order, with 的 before the object? Don’t
worry, we’ll explain that below! We’ve just introduced it here to help you get
used to it from the start.
Emphasizing manner with 是…的
You can also use 是…的 to emphasize the manner of an action, i.e. how it was
done. Again, you put the way the action was done right after 是 to emphasize it.
Have a look at some examples:
There are endless ways you could use 是…的 to emphasize the manner in which an
action was done. Again, note that all of the events described took place in the
past.
Emphasizing place with 是…的
The final category of things you can emphasize with 是…的 is place - where the
action happened. As you might have guessed, you put the place right after 是 to
emphasize it. Some examples:
Hopefully that has given you a general idea of what the 是…的 structure is and
how it’s used. Read on for more usage scenarios and details!
That pesky alternate word order is back again! We’ve put it in a couple of
times here to make you aware of it before we explain it in more detail below.
Emphasizing other details with 是…的
Besides time, manner and place, there are all sorts of other things you can talk
about with 是…的. Here are a few examples:
As you can see, negating 是…的 is very straightforward, and now you’ve got a
whole new set of options in your tool kit!
That’s the third time you’ve seen the alternate word order, with the object
after 的. We’ll explain it soon, we promise!
Asking questions with 是…的
A very common use of 是…的 is to ask questions. You can form question sentences
using 是…的 just as you would normally form questions in Chinese. Let’s have a
look at a few ways.
是…的 with 吗
The simplest way to ask questions is probably with a tag word (aka
question particle) like 吗. You just place this on the end of the sentence as
normal to turn it into a yes/no question:
As you can see, it’s very easy to make 是…的 sentences into question by simply
adding 吗 at the end. This is a good way to ask questions about particular
details of an action, as you can see in the examples.
是…的 in positive-negative questions
The next way you can form questions with 是…的 is to use positive-negative
questions. These are the questions where you say the verb then immediately give
its negated form. As you might expect, these are formed as 是不是 for 是…的
sentences. Some examples:
That’s all there is to it! Forming positive-negative questions with 是…的 is
quite easy to get used to.
是…的 with question words
Another way you can form questions with 是…的 is to use question words. As you
might know already, Chinese question words tend to be quite straightforward. You
just put them in the place of the thing you want to know in the sentence, and
that’s it. You don’t need to re-order the sentence or anything like that.
Some example sentences for 是…的 with question words:
Again, once you know the structure, it’s quite easy to combine it with other
things you know. You’ll soon find that your Chinese “tool kit” is full of
options in this way.
The object often comes after 的 in 是…的
Here’s that explanation we kept promising of those sentences where the
object comes after 的!
When the 是…的 construction is used, the object very often comes after 的,
rather than before it as shown in the examples above. This is very common with
the 是…的 construction for most objects (pretty much everything except people).
This isn’t a huge change, but it’s another thing you’ve got to take note of with
是…的. Have a look at some example sentences to see how this works:
If you take away the object, you can see how these sentences work: 我是上个月来的
still makes sense on its own. So all that’s happening is that a complete
sentence (with 是…的) is having an object added to it.
The object can come after 的 if it’s a place or a ’thing’, but not if it’s a
person. As usual, we’d say it’s best not to try and memorise any rules about
this. Instead, read and listen to as much Chinese as possible, and keep
practising! Then you’ll get a natural feel for it all.
Be careful when putting the object after 的!
If you’re on the ball, you might have spotted a little danger with putting the
object after 的 in a 是…的 sentence. You could end up saying that the subject
is the object, rather than emphasizing something else in the sentence. For
example:
我是昨天买的猪。（ ！）
Wǒ shì zuótiān mǎi de zhū.
"I am the pig that was bought yesterday."
That sentence could mean “I bought the pig yesterday”, but it could also be
misinterpreted. To make sure you say the right thing, it might be better to
phrase such sentences like this:
Even this version could also have another meaning though:
“I was the person who bought the pig yesterday.”
Just remember to be careful if you’re putting the object after 的 in a 是…的
sentence.
是 is often dropped from the 是…的 construction
One final thing to note about the 是…的 construction is that 是 is often left
out of it. That does make the name a bit silly, but 是…的 is the ‘full’
structure.
Nothing else changes, you just say the same sentence but without 是. Some
examples:
Because of this, you could think of 的 on its own as being a way to talk about
past events. Just remember that it works as part of a 是…的, even if the 是 is
invisible!
Other names for the 是…的 construction
As it’s so common, there are many different terms for the 是…的 construction.
To help avoid any confusion, here’s a list of some of them. These all mean the
same thing: