The structure 是…的
We use the construction 是…的 to draw attention to certain information in a sentence.
How to use it
With 是…的 
, we can emphasize an important piece of information in a sentence.
In English, it’s similar to emphasizing things by inverting the word order or using intonation.
For example, let’s compare:
“Yesterday I bought an apartment” is an ordinary narrative sentence.
However if we want to emphasize the word “apartment” we may say:
“I bought an apartment yesterday!”
So this is how the 是…的 construction works.
, we can emphasize an important piece of information in a sentence.
In English, it’s similar to emphasizing things by inverting the word order or using intonation.
For example, let’s compare:
“Yesterday I bought an apartment” is an ordinary narrative sentence.
However if we want to emphasize the word “apartment” we may say:
“I bought an apartment yesterday!”
So this is how the 是…的 construction works.We may use this construction to emphasize anything: time, place, purpose, person, mode of action, etc. There can be just one word or a whole phrase between 是 and 的.
Examples
是谁告诉你的？
Who told you?
shì shéi gàosu nǐ de
我是在上海出生的
I was born in Shanghai
wǒ shì zài shànghǎi chūshēng de
我是坐火车来的
I came by train
wǒ shì zuò huǒchē lái de
Pay attention
We don’t use the construction 是…的 in the future tense.
We also use 是…的 to emphasize a person's opinion or attitude:
Examples
他是愿意来的
He did want to come
tā shì yuànyì lái de
这样做是应该的
It must be done
zhèyàng zuò shì yīnggāi de
Sometimes we may omit 是 and use only 的.
Examples
这件事一个朋友告诉我的
A friend told me this
zhè jiàn shì yí ge péngyou gàosu wǒ de
How to make the negation
To construct a negative sentence we should use the negative particle 不 before 是.
The negation does not refer to the whole sentence, but only to the part that is emphasized by the construction.
before 是.
The negation does not refer to the whole sentence, but only to the part that is emphasized by the construction. Pay attention
We cannot omit 是 in a negative sentence, therefore we must use the full structure 是…的.
Examples
他们不是去年认识的
They didn't meet last year
tāmen bú shì qùnián rènshí de
我们不是完美的
We're not perfect
wŏmen bú shì wánmĕi de
How to ask a question
We can ask 3 types of questions with this structure:
1) using the question particle 吗 :
:
Examples
你是北京大学的吗？
Are you from Peking University?
nĭ shì bĕijīng dàxué de ma
2) reduplicating 是 with the negative particle — 是不是:
Examples
你是不是为报社工作的？
Do you work for a newspaper?
nĭ shìbúshì wéi bàoshè gōngzuò de
3) using a question word:
Examples
你是怎么进来的？
How did you get in?
nĭ shì zĕnme jìnlái de
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