How to Say To Be in Mandarin Chinese
Today you’ll learn how to say to be in Mandarin Chinese. There is only one character you need to know: 是, or shì pronounced with the fourth falling tone. There are only two rules you need to know. Rule No. 1: Use shì when describing a noun. For example, 我是大卫 (wǒ shì dā wèi). Since David is a person or a noun you must use the character shì to represent “to be”.
Rule No. 2: Do not use shì when describing an adjective. For example: 大卫很高兴 (dà wèi hěn gāo xìng), which means “David is very happy”. You see, happy is an adjective so there is no need for the character shì.
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