Who is the person in the front

New words

前 面 qiánmiàn front

后 面 hòumiàn behind

右 面 yòumiàn right side

左 面 zuǒmiàn left side

上 面 shàngmiàn above

下 面xiàmiàn under

王 方 Wáng Fāng a chinese name

谢 朋 Xiè Péng a chinese name

Language points

We have learnt the sentence structure with 有 to indicate existence already, the pattern is locative word +有 + noun. While sentence with 是can also be used to indicate sth’s existence, with the same structure. In sentences with 有, the nouns are generic, while in the sentences with 是, the nouns are very specific.

桌子 上 有 一个杯子。Zhuōzi shàng yǒu yí ge bēizi.

桌子 上 是 我的 杯子。Zhuōzi shàng shì wǒ de bēizi.

Pay attention to the differences of these two sentences:

学校 后面 有 一个 商店。 Xuéxiào hòumiàn yǒu yí ge shāngdiàn.

For学校后面有一个商店, it means that there might be many buildings behind the school, and one of them is a shop.

学校 后面 是 一个 商店。 Xuéxiào hòumiàn shì yí ge shāngdiàn.

For 学校后面是一个商店, it means there is only one building which is the shop behind the school.

The sentence with 在 can also indicate something’s location：

商店 在 学校 后面。Shāngdiàn zài xuéxiào hòumiàn.

Noun + 在 zài + locative word