IX. ‘shì是 ... de的’ construction and sentences
with le了
Because
the ‘shì是 ... de的’ construction is associated with completed actions
and because English uses the past tense to report things that have taken place,
students often make errors by focusing on completion when circumstantial
elements about an action actually demand the attention. It is important to
remember that the ‘shì是
... de的’ construction does not deal with the completion, duration or frequency of
an action or with the quantity of the object. It focuses on when, where and how
an action took place. It is used to seek or provide information about the time,
place, company, conveyance, manner, tools, purpose, agent and recipient of the
action. The following dialogue shows when to use le了 and when to use the ‘shì是
... de的’ constrcution.
A: Nǐ mǎi shū le ma?
你买书了吗？
Have you bought the books yet?
B: Mǎi le.
买了。
Yes, I have.
A: (Shì)
shénme shíhou mǎi de?
(是) 什么时候买的？
When did you buy them?
B: (Shì)
zuótiān mǎi de.
(是) 昨天买的。
I
bought them yesterday.
A: (Shì)
zài nǎr mǎi de?
(是) 在哪儿买的？
Where did you buy them?
B: (Shì)
zài Xīnhuá shūdiàn
mǎi de.
(是) 在新华书店买的。
I
bought them at the Xinhua Bookstore.
A: Xīnhuá shūdiàn hěn yuǎn, nǐ shì zěnme qù de?
新华书店很远，你是怎么去的？
Xinhua
Bookstore is far, how did you go there?
B: (Shì)
zuò chē qù de.
(是) 坐车去的。
I
went by bus.
A: Zuò-le duō cháng shíjiān de chē?
坐了多长时间？
How
long was the ride?
B: Zuò-le yí ge zhōngtóu de chē.
坐了一个钟头的车.
The
ride was an hour long.
A: Nǐ (Shì)
yí gè rén qù de ma?
你(是) 一个人去的吗？
Did you go there alone?
B: Bú shì
(yí gè rén qù de).
不是(一个人去的)。
No,
I didn’t go there alone.
A: (Shì)
gēn shéi qù de?
(是)跟谁去的？
With whom did you go there?
B: (Shì)
gēn Wáng Tóng qù de.
(是) 跟王同去的。
I
went with Tong Wang.
A: Tā yě mǎi shū le ma?
他也买书了吗？
Did
he buy books, too?
B: Tā méi mǎi.
他没买。
No,
he didn’t.
A: Nǐ mǎi-le jǐ běn?
你买了几本？
How
many did you buy?
B: Wǒ mǎi-le wǔ běn.
我买了五本。
I
bought five.