Unit 3: grammar

In this unit, we will look at the verb "to be" 是, the interrogative words 什么 and 谁, the determinative particle 的, how Chinese names are built, and the difference between 学生 and 同学.

The verb to be 是

The verb "to be" 是 shì in Mandarin Chinese is used far less than in English.

Do you remember the adjectival verbs seen in Unit 1?

These are 好 hǎo "to be well", 客气 kèqi "to be polite", 老 lǎo "to be old" and 高兴 gāoxìng "to be happy, glad".

There are 2 rules to remember about these verbs:
1- in an affirmative sentence, they have a comparative meaning. Example: 他老， "He is old, whereas....". To remove the comparison, you add the adverb "very" 很 hěn: 他很老。 "He is (very) old."
2- adjectival verbs already contain the verb "to be". So you must not use the verb 是 shì with adjectival verbs.

The following sentence is therefore incorrect: 他是老。
Yet this is one of the most stubborn mistakes among English speakers. I still correct it with third-year students.

The verb "to be" 是 shì is therefore used only with nouns:
他是老师。 Tā shì lǎoshī. He is a teacher.
他是谁？ Tā shì shéi? Who is he?
她是我的同学。 Tā shì wǒ de tóngxué. She is my classmate.

The incomplete question: 什么 and 谁

In the previous unit we saw the complete question, i.e. a question that can be answered with yes or no. This question is formed by placing 吗 ma at the end of a sentence.
Example: 你是老师吗？ Nǐ shì lǎoshī ma? Are you a teacher?

An incomplete question is a question that can be answered with neither yes nor no. It is a question that asks for additional information. In that case we use interrogative words.

Here are the two interrogative words of this unit:

什么 shénme means "what" or "which". It is used to ask for information about objects or concepts.
谁 shéi means "who". It is used to ask for information about people.

What you need to remember about incomplete questions: no subject inversion, and the interrogative word takes exactly the place of the answer word. This is far more convenient than English, where the question and the answer do not look alike.

他是谁？ Tā shì shéi? Who is he?
他是李老师。 Tā shì Lǐ lǎoshī. It is Teacher Li.

你叫什么名字？ Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi? What is your name?
我叫月月。 Wǒ jiào Yuèyue. My name is Yueyue.

Personal pronouns 他 and 她

In Chinese, the pronouns "he" and "she" are pronounced exactly the same way: tā. However, they are written with different characters:

他 tā: he (masculine)
她 tā: she (feminine)

This distinction in writing is relatively recent in the history of Chinese. It was introduced in the early 20th century under the influence of European languages. In speech, only the context tells you who is being talked about. This is unsettling at first, then you stop thinking about it.

Summary of the personal pronouns seen so far:
我 wǒ: I, me
你 nǐ: you (singular)
他 tā: he, him
她 tā: she
我们 wǒmen: we
你们 nǐmen: you (plural)
他们 tāmen: they (masculine)
她们 tāmen: they (feminine)

The determinative particle 的

的 de is a determinative particle. It links the modifier (additional information) to the head (what is being talked about) according to the following structure:

Example: 老师的名字 lǎoshī de míngzi: the teacher's given name. What is being talked about is a given name 名字, but not just any one. The modifier specifies which one: the teacher's, not someone else's.

It is often called a "possessive" particle. That is too narrow: possession is only one special case of determination. Besides, the modifier can be a single word, but also a whole clause, which English will most often render with a relative clause.

For example: 叫月月的学生 the student(s) called Yueyue

Notice that the order is the reverse of English. This is decisive for telling apart word groups that look alike:
老师的学生 lǎoshī de xuéshēng the teacher's students
学生的老师 xuéshēng de lǎoshī the students' teacher

This also works with personal pronouns to form possessive adjectives:
我的: my
你的: your (singular)
他的: his
她的: her

For example:
我的老师 wǒ de lǎoshī: my teacher
她的同学 tā de tóngxué: her classmate

The head can be absent (implied or unknown). The possessive adjectives then become possessive pronouns:
我的: mine
李老师的 Lǐ lǎoshī de: Teacher Li's (the one belonging to Teacher Li)

How Chinese names are built

In Chinese, the family name (姓 xìng) always comes before the given name (名字 míngzi). This is the opposite of English.

Example: 李明 Lǐ Míng, where 李 is the family name and 明 is the given name.

Chinese family names are usually made of a single character (there are a few rare two-character exceptions). Given names are made of one or two characters.

To address someone politely, use the family name followed by a title:
李老师 Lǐ lǎoshī: Teacher Li
王先生 Wáng xiānsheng: Mr. Wang

The difference between 学生 and 同学

学生 xuéshēng means "pupil" or "student". It is a general term for a person who studies.
Example: 他是学生。 Tā shì xuéshēng. He is a student.

同学 tóngxué means "classmate". Literally, 同 means "same" and 学 means "to study": they are people who study together. This term implies a relationship between the people.
Example: 她是我的同学。 Tā shì wǒ de tóngxué. She is my classmate.

In short, 学生 refers to a status (being a pupil/student), whereas 同学 refers to a relationship (studying in the same place). A teacher will use 同学 to address their students, often in the plural: 同学们 tóngxuémen.

同学 is also used as a title, such as teacher, Mr. or Mrs.: 李同学 "the student Li".

You can easily recognize this use, since the word is then preceded by a family name.