Practise the thinking. Keep the judgement.
是、有、在: identity, possession and location
Original Chinese study material with English explanations. Simplified Chinese with pinyin; beginner, intermediate and advanced are editorial difficulty labels.
Use 是 (shì) to identify something, 有 (yǒu) for possession or existence, and 在 (zài) to locate something. These verbs answer different questions.
她是老师。
Tā shì lǎoshī.
She is a teacher.
书在桌子上。桌子上有三本书。
Shū zài zhuōzi shàng. Zhuōzi shàng yǒu sān běn shū.
The book is on the table. There are three books on the table.
Ordinary adjective predicates do not need 是: 她很忙 means she is busy.
Try it
Complete “I have a dictionary”: 我___一本词典。
- 在
- 有
- 是
Answer and explanation
有. 有 expresses possession; the classifier for a dictionary is 本.