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 + specific information + Verb + 的

Example

• 我坐飞机去中国。

I'm going to China by plane.

• 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 个 星期五 来 的。 (The focus is on "last Friday".)

I came last Friday.

• 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.

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

We met ten years ago.

Sources

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

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