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Introducing the Expressions of basic personal information

In this video, some expressions of basic personal information will be introduced by Dr Li.

In this video we learn how to use “是” to give information about oneself such as one’s name, nationality and career.

  • We use the word “是” to introduce one’s name. For example:
    他是成龙。 Tā shì Chéng Lóng.

我是李黔萍。Wǒ shì Lǐ qiánpíng.

  • We use the word “是” to introduce one’s nationality. For example:

我是英国人。Wǒ shì yīngguórén.

  • We can also use “是” to describe people’s careers. For example:

成龙是演员。Chéng Lóng shì yǎnyuán.

罗琳是作家。Luó Lín shì zuòjiā.

The sentence structure is simple: “person +是+ N/NP ”

Now we can use “是” to give a brief introduction of oneself.

他是成龙,他是中国人,他是演员。

Tā shì Chéng Lóng,tā shì zhōngguórén ,tā shì yǎnyuán.

我是李黔萍,我是中国人,我是老师。

Wǒ shì Lǐ qián píng,wǒ shì zhōngguórén,wǒ shì lǎoshī.

The Negative Form of the structure is easy,we just add “不”before “是”: “person +不+是+ N/NP ”

我不是美国人。Wǒ bú shì měiguórén.

Some new words from the Video:

大学生 dàxuéshēng College student

熊猫 xióngmāo Panda

医生 yīshēng Doctor

The following is the situational dialogue from the Video:

王小宝:西西,你看,这是我爸爸。我爸爸是医生。

西西:哇,真帅,她旁边的是你姐姐吗?

王小宝:她不是我姐姐,她是我妈妈,我妈妈是老师。

西西:你看,这是我妹妹,她是大学生。

王小宝:啊,真漂亮!

  Wáng xiǎobǎo:Look, CICI, this is my father. My father is a doctor.

Xīxī:Wow, so handsome! Is that your sister next to her?

Wáng xiǎobǎo:She’s not my sister. She’s my mother. My mother is a teacher.

Xīxī:Look, this is my sister. She’s a college student.

Wáng xiǎobǎo:Ah,How beautiful!

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Learn Chinese: Introduction to Chinese Grammar

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