Chinese grammar - The verb 是 (shì) - 'to be' and personal pronouns

The verb 是 (shì) - 'to be' and personal pronouns

The Chinese word 是 means 'to be.' It is pronounced shì.

It can be used to equate two nouns (things), so [A] 是 [B] means '[A] is [B].'

是 is invariant with subject, unlike in English where we have various forms of 'to be' such as '[I] am,' '[He] is,' '[They] are,' etc.

The Chinese singular 'personal pronouns' are 我 (wǒ) = 'I,' 你 (nǐ) = 'you,' 他 (tā) = 'he,' and 她 (tā) = 'she.'

— 他 ('he') and 她 ('she') have the same pronunciation tā.

Note that Chinese does not have explicit articles like 'a' and 'the.'

Examples:
	我是学生。 wǒ shì xuéshēng. I am [a] student. 是 (shì) is the verb 'to be' 我 (wǒ) means 'I' 学生 (xuéshēng) means 'student'
	你是老师。 nǐ shì lǎoshī. You are [a] teacher. The verb 是 (shì) does not change (conjugate) for different persons so 我是… and 你是… 你 (nǐ) means 'you' 老师 (lǎoshī) means 'teacher'
	我是老师。 wǒ shì lǎoshī. I am [a] teacher.
	你是学生。 nǐ shì xuéshēng. You are [a] student.
	他是学生。 tā shì xuéshēng. He is [a] student. 他 (tā) means 'he'
	她是老师。 tā shì lǎoshī. She is [a] teacher. 她 (tā) means 'she'
	我是中国人。 wǒ shì zhōngguó rén. I am [a] Chinese [person]. 中国 (zhōngguó) means 'China' 人 (rén) means 'person' 中国人 (zhōngguó rén) means 'Chinese person' or literally 'China' (中国) + 'person' (人)
	他是中国人。 tā shì zhōngguó rén. He is [a] Chinese [person].
	我是美国人。 wǒ shì měiguó rén. I am [an] American [person]. 美国 (měiguó) means 'America' 美国人 (měiguó rén) means 'American (person)' or literally 'America' (美国) + 'person' (人)
	你是美国人。 nǐ shì měiguó rén. You are [an] American [person].