HSK 1 · Common Verbs

是 shì “to be” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 是 means

  1. to be
  2. to be (followed by substantives only)
  3. correct
  4. right
  5. true
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well
  • (adverb for emphatic assertion)

How to say 是

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale是shì4th tone, falling

是 in a sentence

  1. 我是在北京学习中文的。

    Wǒ shì zài Běijīng xuéxí Zhōngwén de.

    I study Chinese in Beijing.

    Sentence #844670 from Tatoeba

  2. 从这儿到那儿是很近的。

    Cóng zhèr dào nàr shì hěn jìn de.

    It’s very close from here to there.

    Sentence #391188 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. “这是谁的椅子？”“它是我的。”

    "Zhè shì shéi de yǐzi?" "Tā shì wǒ de."

    “Whose chair is this?” “It is mine.”

    Sentence #1737869 from Tatoeba

How 是 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 是 (shì) with each of its parts in a different colour
是shìto be
  • 日sun · rì
  • 疋roll of cloth · pǐ

How to write 是

是 9 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

是 (shì) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 是 (shì). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 是

Words with 是

但是dànshì · but总是zǒngshì · always还是háishi · or只是zhǐshì · only可是kěshì · but是否shìfǒu · whether (or not)要是yàoshi · if于是yúshì · thereupon就是jiùshì · exactly是非shìfēi · right and wrong

More words: Common Verbs

叫jiào · to be called看见kànjiàn · to see没有méiyǒu · not to have下雨xiàyǔ · to rain有yǒu · to have在zài · to be at去qù · to go作废zuòfèi · to become invalid

FAQs

是 (shì) means “to be” or “to be (followed by substantives only)”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it shì: shì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 是 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 是 from the suggestions. Typing shi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
是 is an HSK 1 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.