Mnemonic comic for

Translation

shì = sh + Ø4: to be (followed by substantives only) / correct; right; true / (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well / (adverb for emphatic assertion)

Mnemonic

A mnemonic is a short, deliberately ridiculous scene, built to be hard to forget. Who appears in it and where it takes place are how the pronunciation is stored; the objects in it stand for the parts the character is written with. That is the Marilyn Method, and the comic below is the same scene, drawn.

Mnemonic symbol: a skull, from “to be or not to be”.

Sherlock Holmes (sh) starts his day in the space station’s bathroom (Ø4) with a mug of coffee (旦). Holding a skull (mnemonic symbol for 是) in his hands, he asks himself “to be, or not to be” (是). He wonders if he can make the skull come back to life using lots of coffee, and injects coffee from his mug into the skull using a syringe (龰).

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All translations for 是

shì = sh + Ø4
variant of 是[shi4] / (used in given names)
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shì = sh + Ø4
to be (followed by substantives only) / correct; right; true / (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well / (adverb for emphatic assertion)
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Comments

Mad props to liakad for uploading the green skull to https://openclipart.org/detail/4660/greenskull.

Matthias, almost 3 years ago

How to pronounce 是

MandarinBanana teaches pronunciation with the Marilyn Method: every Pinyin syllable is one initial plus one final, the initial becomes a person, an animal or a deity, and the final becomes a place in your memory palace — with the tone deciding which part of that place the scene happens in. Remember the little story below for each half and the whole syllable comes back with them.

= sh initial

Sh is for Sherlock Holmes.

By Matthias • updated about 2 months ago
+ Ø4 final

In the space station’s bathroom.

By Matthias • updated about 2 months ago

是 character breakdown

Chinese characters are built out of smaller characters. Each component carries a mnemonic symbol - one concrete object that stands in for it - and a mnemonic story hands those objects to the person and the place that stand for the pronunciation. Learn a component once and every character that reuses it gets easier.

Component Translations
= r + Ø4
abbr. for 日本[Ri4 ben3], Japan
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= r + Ø4
sun / day / date, day of the month
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xià = xi + a4
down / downwards / below / lower / later / next (week etc) / second (of two parts) / to decline / to go down / to arrive at (a decision, conclusion etc) / measure word to show the frequency of an action
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rén = r + (e)n2
person; people / CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4]
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dàn = d + an4
dawn / morning / daybreak / day / dan, female roles in Chinese opera (traditionally played by specialized male actors)
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Character component without intrinsic meaning
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Characters with 是 as component

= di + Ø1
variant of 堤[di1]
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= di + Ø1
dike / Taiwan pr. [ti2]
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= ti + Ø2
surname Ti
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Words with 是

show 171 more
but / however
but; however
yes, that's right / variant of 似的[shi4 de5]
Sentences with 是
hǎo
hǎo
shì
guài
wu
OK, OK. She is not a monster.

Want to remember 是 for good?

Make it your learning target and MandarinBanana works out the shortest route to it: the two sounds its syllable is built from, then the components of the character itself, one short step at a time. No account needed to start.

shì

2 translations

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