Sentence PatternsHSK 4

The 是... 的 construction for indicating purpose

The 是...的 pattern emphasizes purpose, often using 来 (come) or 去 (go) to show the direction of the action. Use it when the subject is a person and you want to highlight the intention behind their coming or going—just remember to end with 的.

Structure

Subj. + 是 + 来/去 + Verb + 的

used with 来 (come) or 去 (go) to show purpose

Examples

我是来玩的。
Wǒ shì lái wán de .
I came for fun.
我们都是去出差的。
Wǒmen dōu shì qù chūchāi de .
We are all going on business trips.
他们都是来实习的。
Tāmen dōu shì lái shíxí de .
They all came here to do internships.
你真的是来帮我们的吗？
Nǐ zhēnde shì lái bāng wǒmen de ma?
Are you really here to help us?
我们不是去玩的，是去做调查的。
Wǒmen bù shì qù wán de , shì qù zuò diàochá de .
We're not going for fun. We're going to do research.

Words that use this

是shìto be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion)
的deof; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute); (used to form a nominal expression); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); also pr. [dì] or [di] in poetry and songs