是
to be (is/am/are)
HSK level
- Pinyin
- shì
- Part of speech
- verb
- Level
- HSK 1
- Strokes
- 9
- Register
- neutral
Stroke order for 是
是 is written with 9 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
What does 是 mean?
是 (shì) is the Chinese copula — the verb that links a subject to a noun: 我是学生 'I am a student,' 这是茶 'This is tea.'
It corresponds to 'is / am / are / was / were' in English, but with a critical restriction: 是 only links nouns to nouns. To say 'I am tired,' you do NOT use 是 — adjectives in Chinese act like verbs and take 很 (hěn) instead: 我很累, not 我是累. Saying 我是高 sounds broken to a Chinese ear.
是 is also the standard 'yes' answer to a yes-no question (是 / 不是 = yes / no), and it appears in the common 是…的 construction used to emphasize when, where, how, or who did something. The negation is 不是 (bú shì).
Example sentences
我是中国人。
Wǒ shì Zhōngguó rén.
I am Chinese.
neutral
这是我的朋友。
Zhè shì wǒ de péngyou.
This is my friend.
spoken
他不是学生。
Tā bú shì xuésheng.
He is not a student.
neutral
你是老师吗？
Nǐ shì lǎoshī ma?
Are you a teacher?
neutral
Common phrases with 是
Synonyms
Formal/literary 'to be,' seen in written Chinese and idioms (以…为… 'take as'). Never used in everyday speech the way 是 is.
Don't confuse 是 with
在 means 'to be located at / at.' English uses 'is' for both 'I am a student' (是) and 'I am at home' (在). Chinese splits them — never say 我是在家.
有 means 'to have / there is.' Don't use 是 for existence — 'There is a book on the table' is 桌子上有书, not 桌子上是书.
Same pinyin and tone but a different character: 事 means 'matter / affair / thing' (有事 'have something to do'). Beginners write 我事学生 by mistake — it must be 是.
FAQ
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