SHI-4
('shi' in the fourth tone)
The morpheme 'shi' is one of the most
common in the Chinese language. 89 standard Chinese characters have a 'shi'
pronunciation (a good number of Chinese characters can be spoken in entirely
different sounds, and then have different meanings. Sound-determining elements
of complicated 'shi'-spoken characters include 是 and 师 . Several simple
characters that also function as radicals are spoken as 'shi': 十 , 士 , 石 . The occurance
of these characters / radicals in more complicated characters does normally not
indicate that these more complicated characters should be spoken as 'shi'.
Radicals usually only place a more complicated character into a certain meaning
context. They almost never convey sound information.
For most non-Chinese people whose native
language uses the Roman alphabet for the written representation of word sounds,
the Chinese Pinyin is misleading.
The 'i' after the 'sh' is pronounced not
like anyhing they are familiar with, but like the 'e' in 'her' or the 'u' in
'church'.
But it's not that the Pinyin 'i' would
always be pronounced like the 'e' in 'her' or the the 'u' in 'church'.
Rather, the pronunciation of the 'i'
depends on the consonant or consonant preceeding it.
If a 'sh' preceeds it, the 'i' is spoken
like the 'e' in 'her' or the the 'u' in 'church'. But if the consonant 'x'
preceeds the 'i', it is spoken like the 'i' in English 'kill'.
For all practical reasons, the 'x' in
'xi' has the same sound as the 'sh' in 'shi'.
是 = yes; correct, to be
This is one of two Chinese words that can
be considered equivalent to the English 'is', the other being 在 = zai(4).
However, 在 and 是 cannot usually be interchanged. 在 is normally used
when a statement could be assumed to be an answer on a 'where' question. 是 would normally
be used for answering 'what' questions, but only if the description uses a
noun. If the description uses an adjective, no 是 and no 在 is used, and
nothing else is really needed. However, to make a statement sound less abrupt, 很 = hen(3) = very,
is often inserted.
她在家里. = Ta(1) zai(4) jia(1) li(3). =
She is at home.
她是老师. = Ta(1) shi(4) lao(3)shi(1). =
She is a teacher.
她美丽. = Ta(1) mei(3)li(4). = She is beautiful.
If she isn't just so-so looking, it's
better to add 很 = hen(3) = very
她很美丽. = Ta(1) hen(3) mei(3)li(4). = She
is very beautiful.
Also:
天气很热. = Tian(1)qi(4) hen(3) re(4). =
The weather is very hot.
*****
事 = matter; thing
凡事 = fan(2)shi(4) = no matter what
*****
市 = city (often added after the city name)
市场 = shi(4)chang(3) = market (where vegetables and
other items are sold)
*****
世 = world
Most likely encountered in:
世界 = shi(4)jie(4) = world
*****
室 = room
Encountered most frequently in:
办公室 = ban(4)gong(1)shi(4) = office
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