Writing
是 (shì) — how to say "to be" in Chinese
是
To be, yes
verb
How to use it
Why is 是 used in 我是学生 but not in 我很好?
Use 是 to identify someone or something: 我是学生 means “I am a student.” The words on either side identify a person and a category. A plain description works differently: 我很好 means “I am doing well” and normally does not need 是.
我是学生
wǒ shì xué sheng
I am a student.
我很好
wǒ hěn hǎo
I am doing well.
Radicals / Keys
日
Sun
#72 · rì · 4 strokes
Collocations
是学生
shì xuésheng
to be a student
Examples
我是学生，你是老师吗？
I am a student, are you a teacher?
Mnemonic
[shì-] Shih Tzu, the little dog, stumbles upon a golden medal with the character 是 engraved on it! He barks: "是 I'm the world champion!" 🏆 Suddenly, he notices the horizontal line 一 on the medal and jumps with joy, feeling like 是 the most important being in the world.
Frequently asked questions
To be in Chinese Mandarin
"to be" in Chinese is 是 (shì).
是 meaning in English
是 (shì) means "To be, yes".
To be in Chinese pinyin
It is pronounced shì (written as shi). You can listen to the pronunciation on this page.
To be in Chinese character
It is written 是 and has 9 strokes. The Writing section above animates the stroke order and lets you trace it.
What HSK level is 是?
是 belongs to the HSK 1 vocabulary list.
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