Nói ai là người nào

Meet a student and a teacher

• I / me我wǒto be / is是shìstudent学生xué shēng。 Wǒ shì xuésheng. — I am a student.

• she / her她tāto be / is是shìteacher老师lǎo shī。 Tā shì lǎoshī. — She is a teacher. Learn student学生xué shēng and teacher老师lǎo shī as whole words.

• Before you start: Recall I / me我wǒ from introducing yourself. A name sentence uses I / me我wǒvariant of 叫叫jiào; this lesson links a person to an identity with to be / is是shì.

Link a person to an identity

• In this pattern, person + to be / is是shì + identity: I / me我wǒto be / is是shìstudent学生xué shēng. to be / is是shì shì links the person with a noun such as student or teacher.
• English uses “a student”; Chinese can simply say student学生xué shēng here. I / me我wǒto be / is是shì一个yí gèstudent学生xué shēng is also grammatical, but you do not need 一个yí gè for this introduction.

Correct a wrong guess

• I / me我wǒno不是bú shìteacher老师lǎo shī。 Wǒ bú shì lǎoshī. — I am not a teacher.
• Put not不bù before to be / is是shì: I / me我wǒ no不是bú shì teacher老师lǎo shī. Then give the correct identity: I / me我wǒto be / is是shìstudent学生xué shēng。

Work through a decision: For a fictional student, first choose the identity student学生xué shēng, then link it to I / me我wǒ with to be / is是shì：I / me我wǒto be / is是shìstudent学生xué shēng。To deny being a teacher, put not不bù immediately before to be / is是shì：I / me我wǒno不是bú shìteacher老师lǎo shī。The denied role and the actual role need not be the same word.

Compare a near miss: I / me我wǒno不是bú shìteacher老师lǎo shī denies being a teacher; it does not by itself prove that the person is a student. Add I / me我wǒto be / is是shìstudent学生xué shēng if that is the role you want to state. I / me我wǒvariant of 叫叫jiàostudent学生xué shēng uses the naming frame and does not express the intended identity.

Listen for not不bù

• Listen and decide: teacher or not a teacher?
• not不bù sounds rising before the fourth-tone to be / is是shì: bú shì. You may see the dictionary spelling bù; the written character is unchanged.

Say something true

• Say I / me我wǒto be / is是shìstudent学生xué shēng if it is true, or practise with a fictional student role. Then deny a different identity: I / me我wǒno不是bú shìteacher老师lǎo shī。
• Ask a partner to point at either a student or teacher picture. Say a full sentence about the person; use he / him他tā tā — he or she / her她tā tā — she.

Next: ask a yes-or-no question.

Later recall: Tomorrow, state and deny two new fictional roles without the model. Explain what I / me我wǒno不是bú shìteacher老师lǎo shī does and does not establish. Repeat a few days later with the roles swapped; revisit “Correct a wrong guess” if you accidentally assign the denied role.