| 我 是 美国人。 | I am American. |
| wǒ shì měi guó rén. | |
| 我 是 Joyce。 | I am Joyce. |
| wǒ shì Joyce. | |
| 我 叫 Johnny。 | My name is Johnny. |
| wǒ jiào Johnny. | |
| 你 是 哪 国 人? | Which country do you come from? |
| nǐ shì nǎ guó rén? | |
Dialogue
| A: | 你 | 好 | ， | 你 | 是 | 哪 | 国 | 人 | ？ | | Nǐ | hǎo | , | nǐ | shì | nǎ | guó | rén | ? |
Hello, what's your nationality? | Download | |
| B: | 我 | 是 | 法国 | 人 | 。 | 你 | 呢 | ？ | | wǒ | shì | fǎ guó | rén | , | nǐ | ne | ? |
I am French, what about you? | Download | |
| A: | 我 | 是 | 中国 | 人 | 。 | | Wǒ | shì | zhōng guó | rén | . |
I am Chinese. | Download | |
| A: | 杰克 | 是 | 哪 | 国 | 人 | ？ | | Jiékè | shì | nǎ | guó | rén | ? |
What's Jack's nationality? | Download | |
| B: | 杰克 | 是 | 德国 | 人 | 。 | | Jiékè | shì | déguó | rén | . |
Jack is a German. | Download | |
Vocabulary
| 哪 | nǎ | pron.which, short for 哪个((nǎ gè) | |
| 国 | guó | n. country | |
| 人 | rén | n. person or people | |
| 中国 | zhōng guó | n. China | |
| 中国人 | zhōng guó rén | n. Chinese person | |
| 美国 | měi guó | n. America | |
| 美国人 | měi guó rén | n. American | |
Expansion
Other ways to ask people's nationality.
| 你 | 是 | 哪 | 个 | 国 | 家 | 的 | 人 | ？ | | Nǐ | shì | nǎ | ge | guó | jiā | de | rén | ? |
What's your nationality? (A more casual way of saying“nǐ shì nǎ guó rén?”) | Download | |
Where do you come from? | Download | |
Grammar
| The use of 是( shì )—To be (am/ is/are) |
| 是( shì ) is a verb which means to be, and you can consider it equivalent to "am, is, are" in English. Because Chinese verbs don't conjugate, 是( shì )doesn't change to singular or plural forms. No matter you want to say I am, she is, you are or they are, we use the same 是( shì ) after the subject. Tips: subject + 是( shì ) +noun, that is, subject + verb (be) + object For exampe: |
| I am French. | Download | |
| I am student. | Download | |
| I am teacher. | Download | |
| Which— 哪(nǎ )or 哪个 (nǎ gè) |
The Chinese word 哪个 (nǎ gè) is equivalent to "which" in English. And sometimes we can just use 哪(nǎ )short for 哪个 (nǎ gè) if 哪(nǎ ) is followed by a measure word ( The measue word will be introduced in Lesson 21). Today you can simply remember 哪国(nǎ guó) literally means which country. |
| subject | verb | object | | | 我 | 是 | 中国人。 | | wǒ | shì | zhōng guó rén. |
I am Chinese person. | Download | |
| change the | unchanged | change to the corresponding question word | | subject | verb | object | | 你 | 是 | 哪 国 人? | | nǐ | shì | nǎ guó rén? |
You are which country person? | Download | |
