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4. Family Members & "是" (To Be)

New Vocabulary

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

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

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

J, Q, X with ü Sound

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

Grammar Points

  1. 是 (shì) Usage:
    -

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

Looking Ahead

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

Common Pattern Notes

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