第三十九天

[nnozomi]

是...的 to emphasize a specific point
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/The_%22shi..._de%22_construction_for_emphasizing_details

Let's stick to the easy half of this (as it strikes me) today and move on to the use in past questions tomorrow...

Guardian: (ugh, this is impossible to search for without knowing more about 正规表现 than I do)
我们都是从地星来的。(it's from Dixing that we all came)
让是你来指认现场的，不是让你去打先锋的 (it's to confirm the site that you're here, not to go strike the first blow) (?)
但是强大是要付出代价的 (but strength requires paying the price)

My practice:
我是坐地铁来的，走路太远了。
昨晚你原来是跟他去玩的！

Comments

[nnozomi]

If they're different, I'm not sure how to distinguish them either.
If you aren't sure about it, I'm definitely not...

oh, but I did think of one thing just now! In Shen Wei's 这条命是我还你的，是 is the main verb. In something like 我们是昨天到的 from the CGW page, 到 is the main verb and 是 is there to emphasize what comes after it. So maybe not the same construction. UNLESS this is all only true based on my faulty understanding of Chinese grammar, which God knows is likely, in which case I just don't know.

[grayswandir]

I have 100% not studied Chinese grammar, so most of my impressions of how it works are just intuitive. XD But to speculate anyway, I think I would have taken 是 as the main verb in both sentences, and the 是...的 construction as basically forming an adjective that gives you information about the subject of the sentence. In ultra-literal English, I guess I'd see them as, like:

This life is that-I'm-repaying-you.

We are having-arrived-yesterday.

[nnozomi]

But to speculate anyway, I think I would have taken 是 as the main verb in both sentences, and the 是...的 construction as basically forming an adjective that gives you information about the subject of the sentence.
On reflection, that makes more sense. 谢谢！ Oh dear.

[grayswandir]

Oh dear.

That's kind of where I'm at. XD

[presumenothing]

我也是这么想的……两个用法是基本上分不开的……LOL ok enough of that