Language/Mandarin-chinese/Grammar/是...的

The 是 … 的 structure to emphasize an element

In Mandarin Chinese, to emphasize an element of the sentence, put the verb 是 shì in front of the element you want to emphasize and place 的 de at the end of the sentence.

Structure

This structure is used to draw attention to a specific information in the sentence.

Subject + 是 + Adverbial Modifier + Verb (+ Object) + 的

Example

• 我 坐 飛機 去 中國。/我 坐 飞机 去 中国。

I'm going to China by plane.

• 我 是 坐 飛機 去 中國 的 。/我 是 坐 飞机 去 中国 的 。

It's by plane that I go to China.

Here, we want to emphasize that we travel in China by plane and not by other means of transportation.

More examples

• 我 是 上 個 星期五 來 的。/我 是 上 个 星期五 来 的。 (The focus is on "last Friday".)

I came last Friday.

• 他們 是 婚後 一年 離婚 的。/他们 是 婚后 一年 离婚 的。 (The focus is on "one year after getting married".)

They divorced one year after getting married.

• 我們 是 十 年 以前 認識 的。/我们 是 十 年 以前 认识 的。 (The focus is on "ten years ago".)

We knew each other ten years ago.

Sources

https://chine.in/mandarin/grammaire/ASG8YTSF

http://www.chine-culture.com/chinois/cours-de-chinois-10-grammaire.php

Other Lessons

• Questions with 不 (bù)
• Use the verb 姓 (xìng)
• Negation
• Adjectives
• Nouns
• Negation Use 不 (bù) or 没 (mei)
• Conditional Mood
• 个 (ge)
• Use the verb 去 (qù)