<p>This is one of those questions that a native speaker with a sound grammatical knowledge might be able to answer better, but from my point of view (as a native speaker with little grammatical knowledge), I think the best way to explain would be to show what the difference is to the listener.</p>

<p>As you may or may not know, the particle 是 is not always necessary from a grammatical perspective, especially when there is no ambiguity around the various components of the sentence, so grammatically both </p>

<p>你是怎么学习汉语的？AND 你怎么学习汉语？are fine.</p>

<p>If someone asked you 你是怎么学习汉语的？(i.e. you are not reading this sentence from a page of a book), then it is more likely that they are putting an emphasis on the process in which you have managed to learn/acquire the language.</p>

<p>However, 你怎么学习汉语？can mean one of two things:</p>

<ol>
<li>How do you study Chinese? OR</li>
<li>How come you study Chinese? (as opposed to studying Japanese)</li>
</ol>

<p>In fact, 你是怎么学习汉语的？can also have this second meaning, but this would fall into the category of a very awkward way of asking this question, which is more natural without the 是 if you want to imply this meaning.</p>

<p>The only way to be certain is to ascertain the exact context of the sentence/conversation (as is often the case with some Asian languages). </p>

<p><strong>Example sentences</strong>:</p>

<p>有很多不同的语言, 你怎么学习汉语的？
There are many different languages, how come you study Chinese?</p>

<p>有很多不同的语言, 你是怎么学习汉语的？
Probably should be using 为什么 instead of 怎么 when accompanied by 是</p>

<p>你说的很流利, 你是怎么学习汉语的？
You speak fluently, how do you study Chinese?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-27T19:45:27.953Z
Can you explain why 你怎么学习汉语? can mean (2)? I thought 怎么 meant "how", not "why".
rorty
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-27T22:01:55.360Z
@rorty the difficult of Chinese language is that context is not as explicitly stated in the sentence as English sometimes. An example of 怎么 being used to mean "how" is 怎么能, as in how can you do something. If you look up Google Translate you'll also see that one of the translations for 怎么 is how (and vice versa).
Michael Lai
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-26T21:09:11.863Z
2019-12-26T21:09:11.863Z
Michael Lai
<p>你是怎么学习汉语的？ implies <strong>past tense</strong>, namely <em>In what way <strong>did</strong> you learn Chinese?</em> or <em>In what way <strong>have</strong> you learned Chinese?</em></p>

<p>你怎么学习汉语？is a way asking <em>How <strong>will</strong> you learn Chinese</em> or <em>How <strong>do</strong> you learn Chinese</em>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-26T21:48:59.543Z
2019-12-26T21:48:59.543Z
dan
<p>It is oversimplified to think 是 just translates as 'is'. Also, analyzing a chunk of language separated from its context can often lead to misunderstanding. (Ask any politician!)</p>

<p>是： 日 + 正<br>
是： 日 + 止 + 一<br>
的： 白 + 勺 </p>

<p>是：(in the light of) the sun 日 right, true 正</p>

<p>是：（in the light of） the sun 日 a foot  止 stops at the line 一 ： right, true</p>

<p>的：(in the light of) the rising sun 白 (clearly see what is in) the spoon 勺</p>

<p>是····的： a double dose of 'rising sun'. Maybe that's where this idea of emphasis comes from!</p>

<p>是非： right and wrong</p>

<p>How do you study Chinese?<br>
你怎么学习汉语？<br>
你如何学习汉语？</p>

<p>Why do you study Chinese?<br>
你为什么学习汉语？</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-28T04:30:59.247Z
Can you explain the arithmetic you are doing with the symbols? Sorry I am very basic in my 汉语。
rorty
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-28T22:46:07.713Z
Just a breakdown of the character. The top of 是 is the sun, 日， the bottom part is 正， and 正 is 止， a foot stopping at a line, 一，indicating appropriate behaviour, right.
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-27T23:10:30.817Z
2019-12-27T23:10:30.817Z
Pedroski
<p>你 means you.</p>

<p>In this example, 是 is used to determine something. 你怎么学习汉语的？ can be complete sentence too.</p>

<p>In this example, 怎么 showed that you ask how to do something(学习汉语).</p>

<p>学习 means learn.</p>

<p>汉语 means Chinese language. In this example, 汉语 is something you want to learn since you asked it in the question and appear after 学习.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-26T21:59:09.507Z
2019-12-26T21:59:09.507Z
000
<p>你是怎么学习汉语的？AND 你怎么学习汉语？</p>

<p>My take:-</p>

<p>你怎么学习汉语?   ---   How do you study Chinese?</p>

<p>你是怎么学习汉语的?   ---   Show me how you study Chinese.</p>

<p>In the latter example, the 是 and the 的 implies asking for more relevant details.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-27T04:39:13.433Z
2019-12-27T04:39:13.433Z
Wayne Cheah
<p>The trick here is that 是...的 is <em>wrapping</em> the phrase 怎么学习汉语 and adds emphasis to the <em>how</em> part of the phrase. The 是...的 is fairly subtle and there are a few decent articles on it online <a href="https://eastasiastudent.net/china/mandarin/shi-de-construction/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">like this one</a>. </p>

<p>As another responder mentioned there is a bit of a past tense sense to the construction because it's implied that you're asking for details about something that happened, so the translation is kind of like "How did you learn mandarin?".</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-27T14:42:40.680Z
+1 The key here is understanding the 是...的 construction
Santana Afton
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-27T04:26:21.133Z
2019-12-27T04:33:06.277Z
2019-12-27T04:33:06.277Z
JHE
<p>To my knowledge 是 means "is" and the usage of 的 that I am familiar with is that it is like a possession particle. I don't understand how either character functions in the following sentence:</p>

<pre><code>你是怎么学习汉语的？
Nǐ shì zěnme xuéxí hànyǔ de?
How do you study Chinese?
</code></pre>

<p>If I took a blind stab at translating the English to Chinese, I would have went with something like </p>

<pre><code>你怎么学习汉语？
</code></pre>

<p>Is this attempt incorrect?</p>

<p>How do I understand the grammar of the original Chinese sentence? </p>

<translation><grammar>
Parsing grammar of 你是怎么学习汉语的？
# Parsing grammar of 你是怎么学习汉语的？

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-12-26)

To my knowledge 是 means "is" and the usage of 的 that I am familiar with is that it is like a possession particle. I don't understand how either character functions in the following sentence:
你是怎么学习汉语的？
Nǐ shì zěnme xuéxí hànyǔ de?
How do you study Chinese?

If I took a blind stab at translating the English to Chinese, I would have went with something like 
你怎么学习汉语？

Is this attempt incorrect?
How do I understand the grammar of the original Chinese sentence?

**Tags:** translation, grammar


---

## 6 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2019-12-27. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

The trick here is that 是...的 is *wrapping* the phrase 怎么学习汉语 and adds emphasis to the *how* part of the phrase. The 是...的 is fairly subtle and there are a few decent articles on it online [like this one](https://eastasiastudent.net/china/mandarin/shi-de-construction/).

As another responder mentioned there is a bit of a past tense sense to the construction because it's implied that you're asking for details about something that happened, so the translation is kind of like "How did you learn mandarin?".

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: +1 The key here is understanding the 是...的 construction  

---

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-12-26. Score: 4

This is one of those questions that a native speaker with a sound grammatical knowledge might be able to answer better, but from my point of view (as a native speaker with little grammatical knowledge), I think the best way to explain would be to show what the difference is to the listener.

As you may or may not know, the particle 是 is not always necessary from a grammatical perspective, especially when there is no ambiguity around the various components of the sentence, so grammatically both

你是怎么学习汉语的？AND 你怎么学习汉语？are fine.

If someone asked you 你是怎么学习汉语的？(i.e. you are not reading this sentence from a page of a book), then it is more likely that they are putting an emphasis on the process in which you have managed to learn/acquire the language.

However, 你怎么学习汉语？can mean one of two things:

1. How do you study Chinese? OR
2. How come you study Chinese? (as opposed to studying Japanese)

In fact, 你是怎么学习汉语的？can also have this second meaning, but this would fall into the category of a very awkward way of asking this question, which is more natural without the 是 if you want to imply this meaning.

The only way to be certain is to ascertain the exact context of the sentence/conversation (as is often the case with some Asian languages).

**Example sentences**:

有很多不同的语言, 你怎么学习汉语的？
There are many different languages, how come you study Chinese?

有很多不同的语言, 你是怎么学习汉语的？
Probably should be using 为什么 instead of 怎么 when accompanied by 是

你说的很流利, 你是怎么学习汉语的？
You speak fluently, how do you study Chinese?

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Can you explain why 你怎么学习汉语? can mean (2)? I thought 怎么 meant "how", not "why".  
> **username_1**: @username_0 the difficult of Chinese language is that context is not as explicitly stated in the sentence as English sometimes. An example of 怎么 being used to mean "how" is 怎么能, as in how can you do something. If you look up Google Translate you'll also see that one of the translations for 怎么 is how (and vice versa).  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-12-26. Score: 1

你是怎么学习汉语的？ implies **past tense**, namely *In what way **did** you learn Chinese?* or *In what way **have** you learned Chinese?*

你怎么学习汉语？is a way asking *How **will** you learn Chinese* or *How **do** you learn Chinese*.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2019-12-27. Score: 0

It is oversimplified to think 是 just translates as 'is'. Also, analyzing a chunk of language separated from its context can often lead to misunderstanding. (Ask any politician!)

是： 日 + 正  
是： 日 + 止 + 一  
的： 白 + 勺

是：(in the light of) the sun 日 right, true 正

是：（in the light of） the sun 日 a foot 止 stops at the line 一 ： right, true

的：(in the light of) the rising sun 白 (clearly see what is in) the spoon 勺

是····的： a double dose of 'rising sun'. Maybe that's where this idea of emphasis comes from!

是非： right and wrong

How do you study Chinese?  
你怎么学习汉语？  
你如何学习汉语？

Why do you study Chinese?  
你为什么学习汉语？

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Can you explain the arithmetic you are doing with the symbols? Sorry I am very basic in my 汉语。  
> **username_3**: Just a breakdown of the character. The top of 是 is the sun, 日， the bottom part is 正， and 正 is 止， a foot stopping at a line, 一，indicating appropriate behaviour, right.  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2019-12-26. Score: 0

你 means you.

In this example, 是 is used to determine something. 你怎么学习汉语的？ can be complete sentence too.

In this example, 怎么 showed that you ask how to do something(学习汉语).

学习 means learn.

汉语 means Chinese language. In this example, 汉语 is something you want to learn since you asked it in the question and appear after 学习.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2019-12-27. Score: 0

你是怎么学习汉语的？AND 你怎么学习汉语？

My take:-

你怎么学习汉语? --- How do you study Chinese?

你是怎么学习汉语的? --- Show me how you study Chinese.

In the latter example, the 是 and the 的 implies asking for more relevant details.


---

