HSK 2
名词、代词、数词或数量短语、名词性短语作谓语
míng cí 、 dài cí 、 shù cí huò shù liàng duǎn yǔ 、 míng cí xìng duǎn yǔ zuò wèi yǔ
Nouns, pronouns, numerals or quantity phrases, and noun phrases as predicate
Explanation
This is the noun-predicate sentence: a noun, pronoun, numeral, quantity phrase, or noun phrase directly serves as the predicate (the part that states the nature or characteristics of the subject) WITHOUT needing the verb 是 (shì) (to be).
Subject (the doer, placed at the start of the sentence) + noun / numeral / quantity phrase. For example 今天晴天 (jīntiān qíngtiān) = Today is sunny; 他四十 (tā sìshí) = He is forty (years old).
Mainly to state dates, days of the week, weather, time of day, age, price, hometown, and physical appearance. Very common in colloquial speech because it makes the sentence more concise.
Vietnamese learners often add 是 (shì) as in the Vietnamese "là" (e.g. wrongly writing 今天是晴天 when concisely talking about the weather) or forget that in the negative form it is MANDATORY to use 不是 (bú shì) (e.g. 明天不是星期五 = Tomorrow is not Friday), at which point it is no longer a noun-predicate sentence.
Examples
Today is sunny.
Tomorrow is Friday.
What time is it now?
He is forty, his daughter is sixteen.
This Chinese book is twenty-five yuan.
I'm a Beijinger. / I'm twenty-five years old this year.
She is tall, with blond hair, and very pretty.
Practice
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The grammar point “名词、代词、数词或数量短语、名词性短语作谓语” (Nouns, pronouns, numerals or quantity phrases, and noun phrases as predicate) is one of the key structures at HSK 2. To use it fluently, you need to understand the contexts where it's used and practice regularly.
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