Language Notes

Question 1

shì … de construction

Answer 1

The shì … de construction is used for emphasis. When you want to emphazize the time, the place, the person, the means of conveyance or the purpose of an action that has already happened, etc, you place the information you want to stress right after shì, and end the sentence with de. It can roughly be translated as the structure ‘It was … that …’ in English.

Examples:

In the past:

Wǒ shì liù yuè èr hào chū shēng de.

I was born on 2nd June.

Wǒ shì zài Shàng hǎi chū shēng de.

I was born in Shanghai.

Tā shì zuó tiān lái de.

He came yesterday.

Tā shì hé péng you lái de.

He came with friends.

In the present:

Tā shì bú duì de.

He is not correct.

Zhè jiàn máo yī shì xīn de.

This sweater is new.