5.5: Identity

Statements such as ‘Today’s Monday’ or ‘I’m Oliver’ or ‘She’s an engineer’ involve identity or category. In English, the primary verb that serves to identify or categorize is ‘be’ (whose forms include ‘is’, ‘are’, ‘was’, etc.). In Chinese, the relationship is sometimes expressed by simple juxtaposition, with no explicit linking verb. Dates, for example, can be linked to days, as follows:

Jīntiān jiǔyuè bā hào.	Today’s the 8th of September.
Zuótiān qī hào.	Yesterday was the 7th.
Míngtiān jiǔ hào.	Tomorrow’s the 9th.

But the addition of an adverb, such bu, requires a verb, and in such cases, shì [usually untoned] must be expressed:

Jīntiān bú shi bā hào, shi jiǔ hào.

It’s not the 8th today, it’s the 9th.

And an untoned shi can also be present in the positive sentences:

Jīntiān<shi> jiǔyuè shí hào.	Today’s September 10th.
Míngtiān<shi> Zhōngqiū Jié.	Tomorrow’s the ‘Mid-Autumn Festival’. [ie the ‘Moon Festival’]

Naming and other kinds of identification sometimes omit shì in fast speech, but more commonly it can be heard as a toneless whisper, ‘sh’.

Tā shi Wáng Shuò, wǒ de lǎoshī.	He’s Wang Shuo, my teacher.
Wǒmen shi xuésheng, tā shi lǎoshī.	We’re students, he’s a teacher.
Zhè shi jīntiān de bào.	This is today’s paper.
Shi nĭ de yàoshi ma?	Are [these] your keys?
Bú shi wŏ de sǎn, shi tā de.	[That]’s not my umbrella, [it]’s his.
Tāmen dōu shi xuésheng.	They’re all students.

But don’t forget, shì is not required with SVs:

Xuésheng zǒngshi hĕn lèi, duì bu duì?

The students are always tired, right?

Questions

Now we can introduce the question words shéi (or shuí) ‘who, whom’ and shénme ‘what’ (which, like zĕnme, is pronounced [shéme], without the ‘n’). Unlike English, where question words generally appear at the head of the sentence, in Chinese, they remain in the position of the information supplied in the answer. Note the differences in word order between the English sentences and the Chinese:

Tā shi shéi? Tā shi wŏ de lăoshī.	Who’s that? That’s my teacher.
Nà shi shénme? Nà shi wŏ de hùzhào.	What’s that? That’s my passport.
<Shi> shéi de yàoshi? <Shi> wŏ de – xièxie.	Whose keys are [these]? [They]’re mine – thanks.
<Shi> shuí de xíngli? <Shi> wŏmen de.	Whose luggage? It’s ours.
Zhè shi shéi de? Shi wŏ de.	Whose is this? It’s mine.
Shéi shi dì-yī ge? Tā shi dì-yī ge. Dì-èr ge ne? Tā shi dì-èr ge.	Who is the first [one]? He’s the first. And the second? She’s the second.

Hedging your answer

Frequently, when asked about identity, the answer is less than certain, so you may want to hedge your reply with a word like hăoxiàng ‘seems like (good-resemble)’. The following short interchanges involve trying to guess the contents of a series of wrapped packages by feeling them:

Dì-yī shi shénme? Dì-yī hăoxiàng shi yàoshi.	What’s the first? The first seems like keys.
Zhè shi shénme? Hăoxiàng shi shū.	What’s this? Seems like a book.
Nà, zhè shi shénme? Hăoxiàng shi xiézi.	Well, what’s this? Seems like shoes.

Naming

Naming is also a form of identification. And in fact, if you were to go round the classroom naming all your tóngxué ‘classmates’, you could do so with the verb shì as follows:

Nà shi Máo Xiān’ān.	That’s Mao Xian’an.
Nà shi Léi Hànbó.	That’s Lei Hanbo.
Nà shi Lĭ Dān.	That’s Li Dan.
Nà hăoxiàng shi Luó Zhìchéng.	Looks like that’s Luo Zhicheng.
Nĭ shì bu shi Luó Zhìchéng?	Are you Luo Zhicheng?
Tā shi Léi Fēng!	He’s Lei Feng.

Exercise 3.

Provide Chinese for the interchanges:

Q	A
Is it the 29th today?	No, it’s the 30th.
Is this your umbrella?	No, that’s Prof. Zhang’s.
Who’s first?	Seems like Wáng Jié is 1st and Liú Guózhèng is 2nd.
Are you all students?	Yes, we’re all Prof. Wèi’s students.
Is that your bike?	No, it’s Léi Fēng’s.