Nominal predicates with 是 as subject?

[Hagai]

嗨!

I've stumbled several times upon those sentences that begin with 是 and take a somewhat meaning of "it". For example: 是我 - It's me

是还没有名字 - it still doesn't have a name.

However, sometimes "it" doesn't feel like the right translation. A Chinese guy I'm talking to said it is for emphasizing. (again, only talking about 是 that comes in the beginning of the sentence, and not the one that is sometimes stressed and used in the middle).

Allsetlearning Grammar Wiki hasn't an article regarding it. 

Can someone please grammaticaly describe and explain this phenomenon?

 

P.s.: aside from 是...的 construction and 是 as a connection between subject and nominal predicate, there aren't any articles about 是 usages in Chinese. It's rather unfortunate, because I think it is a daily word used all the time and deserves some treatment ?

Can someone refer me to some reading material about it?

 

Thank you!

[Jim]

It's for emphasis that "it is the case" as per definition 3 here: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/是#Definitions but covering the whole subsequent phrase rather than just one word, which fits with what your acquaintance said. It's the sort of statement I'd expect in the context where the preceding queries or denies whatever is the case, hence the need for emphasis.

[Takeshi]

Jim basically explained it correctly, but I want to point out that historically, 是 did mean "it", and Classical Chinese had a null copula (or optional 也 at the end of the sentence; this is different from modern 也).

 

Sometimes this "it" usage slips into Modern Chinese. I can't think of an example off the top of my head, but I would say the examples you are giving are not such cases, they are just cases of 是 used for emphasis. (Though of course the historical usage may have affected this construction.)

[Hagai]

Thank you both.

Jim, it seems like definition 3 is still not the definition I was looking for. Actually it seems more like this statement you described in context with preceding pharses.

The full sentence is this: 如果世界上有新的事物，它们还没有中文名字。是谁决定它们叫什么？(regarding the need in Chinese to pick characters as a name for a new western thing).

 

What is the purpose of this 是? Seems more like the use of 那 at the beginning of sentences.

[Beelzebro]

Quote

如果世界上有新的事物，它们还没有中文名字。是谁决定它们叫什么？

 

The latter part is "Who is it that decides what to call them?" If you remove the 是 then it would be "Who decides what to call them?"

 

The 是 here is being used like it is in a 是...的 structure. It emphasises/marks the word immediately following it as the element of interest (who).

[Hagai]

Thanks!

And how do I distinguish between times when I need to use the entire 是...的 structure, and times that I can just use 是 at the beginning? That is, why can I omit the 的 in this particular sentence? Can I put 的 at the end and still preserve the original meaning?

[Jim]

7 hours ago, Hagai said:

The full sentence is this: 如果世界上有新的事物，它们还没有中文名字。是谁决定它们叫什么？

I'm a bit confused, this does not contain the phrase in your OP:

15 hours ago, Hagai said:

是还没有名字

Or do you mean the first sentence is what directly precedes the latter?

[Hagai]

Just two unrelated sentences. I gave the first short two in my OP as an example, and later found the one I saw originally. 

But it doesn't matter, all of which are example of almost undocumented constructions using 是.

[mungouk]

Example of 是我的/不是我的 from out in the wild... trying to login to JD.com for the first time in ages today and it recognises my phone number.

 

 

 

[realmayo]

I hadn't realised there are two 是 threads (or rather, "is this 是...的 for emphasis" discussions) going on at the same time.

Over here - https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/60546-是关于-grammar-rule/ - I suggested sometimes where 是 is used, without 的, that there is no "emphasis" on what comes next. Instead, the 是 is being used to make clear that we are going into a topic + comment sentence, and this is achieved by making a break between the topic, which comes before the 是, and the comment (about that topic), which follows the 是.

[realmayo]

(multipost)