DAY 7: Are you American? 你是美国人吗？

Hi and welcome to Regular Chinese. In the present example, we should investigate how to inquire: “Would you say you are” in Chinese? For example, would you say you are American? Or then again would you say you are German? This sort of yes-no inquiries, presently how about we get everything rolling.

Lesson Audio Review

Dialogue

A:	你	是	日本	人	吗	？
	Nǐ	shì	rìběn	rén	ma	?

Are you Japanese?

Listen

B:	我	不	是	日本	人	，	我	是	中国	人	。
	Wǒ	bú	shì	rìběn	rén	,	wǒ	shì	zhōngguó	rén	.

I am not Japanese, I am Chinese.

Listen

A:	你	是	美国	人	吗	？
	Nǐ	shì	měiguó	rén	ma	?

Are you American?

Listen

B:	我	不	是	美国	人	，	我	是	加拿大	人	。
	Wǒ	bú	shì	měiguó	rén	,	wǒ	shì	jiānádà	rén	.

I am not an American, I am a Canadian.

Listen

A:	你	好	，	你	是	丽丽	吗	？
	Nǐ	hǎo	,	nǐ	shì	Lìlì	ma	?

Hello, are you Lily?

Listen

B:	我	不	是	丽丽	，	我	是	弯弯	。
	Wǒ	bú	shì	Lìlì	,	wǒ	shì	Wān wān	.

I am not Lily, I am Wanwan.

Listen

Grammar

Expressing “Yes” with 是 (shì) or 是的 (shì de)

The most basic meaning of 是 (shì) is “to be” (am, is, are) as introduced in Lesson 6. Besides that, 是 (shì) can also be used alone to give an affirmative answer, translated to “Yes” in English.

In terms of expressing “Yes”, 是 (shì) and 是 (shì de) are very similar and both are very common in Chinese conversation, but some people prefer to say 是的 (shì de) more often as they consider that the tone of 是的 (shì de) sounds much more mild and soft than 是 (Shì).

Subject	to be	noun	question marker
你	是	美国人	吗？
nǐ	shì	měi guó rén	ma?

You are American?

Listen

是/是的，	我	是	美国人。
shì/shì de	wǒ	shì	měi guó rén.

Yes, I am American.

Listen

Subject	to be	noun	question marker
你	是	商人	吗？
nǐ	shì	shāng rén	ma?

You are businessman?

Listen

是/是的，	我	是	商人。
shì/shì de	wǒ	shì	shāng rén.

Yes,I am businessman.

Listen

Expressing “Not” or “No” with 不 (bù)

不 (bù) is a very common negative word in Chinese, and 不 (bù) should always be placed before the verb and the adjective. The structure is 不 (bù) +verb or 不 (bù) +adj. for instance:

小明	不	喝	咖啡。
xiǎo míng	bù	hē	kā fēi.

xiǎo míng not drink coffee.

Listen

我	不	喜欢	雨天。
wǒ	bù	xǐ huan	yǔtiān.

I not like rainy day.

Listen

我	不	是	德国人。
wǒ	bú	shì	dé guó rén.

I not amGerman.

Listen

Here”shì” is a falling tone, so the tone of “bù” should change to “bú”

我	不	胖。
wǒ	bú	pàng.

I not fat.

Listen

Here”pàng”isa falling tone, so the tone of “bù” should change to “bú”

Note: About Changing the Tone of 不 (bù)
In Pīn yīn (Chinese phonetics), there is a standard that assuming a falling tone is trailed by another falling tone, and that implies 2 falling tones are close to one another, then, at that point, the main falling tone should change to a rising tone. So the tone of bù will change to bú when followed by a falling tone.