Sentence PatternsHSK 4

The 是...的 patterns: an overview

The 是...的 pattern emphasizes a characteristic or category of the subject. It frames the subject as belonging to a certain type rather than simply stating a temporary or neutral attribute. A common pitfall is overusing it for ordinary descriptions where a plain adjective without 是...的 would sound more natural.

Structure

Subj. + 是 + [Distinguishing Words] + 的

Examples

这个苹果是坏的。
Zhège píngguǒ shì huài de .
This apple is bad.
你错了，那个人是女的。
Nǐ cuò le, nàge rén shì nǚ de .
You are mistaken. That person is a woman.
他家的家具都是中式的。
Tā jiā de jiājù dōu shì Zhōng shì de .
The furniture in his house is all in Chinese style.

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