4. Family Members & "是" (To Be)

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New Vocabulary
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|Pinyin | | |
|-----------|---------|----------|--------|
| |shì| be | |
| |dìdi | | |
| |gēge | | |
| |shéi|who|who|
|绿|lǜ|green|green |
| 吕 | lǚ | | |

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Character	Pinyin	Literal Character Meaning	English Usage
是	shì	be	am/is/are
弟弟	dìdi	younger + younger	younger brother
哥哥	gēge	older + older	older brother
谁	shéi	who	who
绿	lǜ	green	green
吕	lǚ	(surname)	surname Lü

Possessive Phrases with Family Members
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|Pinyin | | |
|---------|---------|----------|-----------|
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Chinese	Pinyin	Character-by-Character	English Usage
我妈妈的	wǒ māma de	I + mother + mother + possessive	my mom's
我的妈妈	wǒ de māma	I + possessive + mother + mother	my mom
他的妈妈	tā de māma	he + possessive + mother + mother	his mom
她的爸爸	tā de bàba	she + possessive + father + father	her dad
我们的妈妈	wǒmen de māma	I + plural + possessive + mother + mother	our mom
他们的妈妈	tāmen de māma	he + plural + possessive + mother + mother	their mom

Important Sentence Patterns
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|Pinyin | | |
|---------|---------|----------|--------|
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Chinese	Pinyin	Character-by-Character	English Usage
他是我的弟弟	tā shì wǒ de dìdi	he + be + I + possessive + younger + younger	He is my younger brother
我是哥哥	wǒ shì gēge	I + be + older + older	I am the older brother
我是Jack	wǒ shì Jack	I + be + Jack	I am Jack
他是谁？|	tā shì shéi?	he + be + who	Who is he?
他们是谁？|	tāmen shì shéi?	he + plural + be + who	Who are they?

Pronunciation Notes
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J, Q, X with ü Sound
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|Pinyin|Notes|
|-----------|---------|--------|
| |lǜ | |
| |lǚ | |
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Character	Pinyin	Notes
绿	lǜ	Uses ü sound
吕	lǚ	Uses ü sound

• The ü sound is written as 'u' after j, q, x
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• The dots are only written in other cases (like in 吕 lǚ)

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Grammar Points
1.

1. 是 (shì) Usage:
        - Links subject with predicates
        - Used for identification
        - Cannot be used alone like English "yes"

2. 2. Possession Patterns:
        - Both Person + family member + 的 and Person + 的 + family member are correct
        - 们 (men) indicates plural
        - 的 (de) indicates possession

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Looking Ahead

Next concept: 认识 (rèn + shi) = recognize + know → to know/recognize someone

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Common Pattern Notes
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• Family terms are doubled (弟弟, 哥哥) with second character in neutral tone
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• Possessive marker 的 comes after the owner
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• Plural marker 们 comes after the pronoun
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• Question word 谁 (shéi) comes at the same position as the answer would be