<p><strong>question 1</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don't understand how is it allowed this order structure. Is it because the structure 是...的 allows for passive sentences?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>是 ～ 的 is typically used for emphasis.</p>
<p>The position of the object in your two example sentences is given by the topic-comment construction, which is typical in Chinese.</p>
<p>If we break it down:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>晚饭 topic</p>
<p>(是)妈妈做(的) comment, with additional emphasis given by 是 ～ 的</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It appears passive only if you go out of your way to keep the same word order in English.</p>
<p><strong>question 2</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Just to clarify, would this form be correct too?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I would say that <code>是谁打来电话的?</code> and <code>是妈妈做晚饭的</code> don't feel right to me.</p>
<p>Whereas <code>是谁打来的电话</code> and <code>是妈妈做的晚饭</code> do, even though they shift the focus of the sentence on &quot;who&quot; and &quot;mum&quot; respectively: &quot;who is it who called&quot; and &quot;it's mum who made dinner&quot;.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-17T09:00:00.633Z
1. I guess having the topic before the comment is allowed by the phenomena of "[topicalization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topicalization)" (see also [this other post](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/34423/25265) ). Is it usual in chinese to have this order? Does it sound a little bit stranger than the usual order?
2. You say having the object before 的 sounds weird to you. Maybe writing the object after 的 is more common in chinese because it gives more clarity to the detail that is emphasized...
Puco4
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-17T14:10:14.103Z
Chinese IS a topic-comment language. In informal speech maybe you find it less often, but topic-comment order is how the language works most of the time. As of where to place the object w.r.t 的，it depends on the role 的 has in the sentence
blackgreen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-17T14:26:17.243Z
Ah, I really didn't understood the *topic-comment construction* before. I'll just leave a link here if someone else has the same difficulty: [Topic-comment sentences in resources.allsetlearning.com](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Topic-comment_sentences)
Puco4
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-16T22:31:25.203Z
2020-06-17T15:38:11.550Z
2020-06-17T15:38:11.550Z
blackgreen
<blockquote>
<p>In &quot;是谁打来的电话&quot; , the object is '电话'</p>
<p>[电话]是谁打来的 (places the object before the verb emphasize the object, makes it a more important part in the sentence - The phone call is the topic)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>~</p>
<p>In &quot;是妈妈做的晚饭&quot; , the object is '晚饭'</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[晚饭] 是妈妈做的 (place the object before the verb emphasize the object, makes it a more important part in the sentence - The dinner is the topic)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>[的] marks 是谁打来[的] as an 'adjectival phrase' that describes the object to follow. In this case, it describes the object 电话 (phone call? What phone call? The phone call that was made by who)</p>
<p>[的] marks 是妈妈做[的] as an 'adjectival phrase' that describes the object to follow. In this case, it describes the object 晚饭 (dinner? What dinner? The dinner that was made by mother)</p>
<p><em>是 = (it) is/ (it) was</em></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-16T22:25:51.893Z
2020-06-16T22:25:51.893Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Tang Ho
<p>In fact, the meaning of the two sentences is similar, which is related to the habit of speaking and tone of voice. </p>

<p>Q: 是谁做的晚饭?
Answer: 是妈妈做的晚饭.
Q: 晚饭是谁做的? 
Answer: 晚饭是妈妈做的. </p>

<p>Here have three words and different orders can be used to express the level of eating chili:
不怕辣；辣不怕；怕不辣. 
Your choice is...</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-17T03:37:38.630Z
2020-06-17T03:37:38.630Z
leb
<p>I came across the following sentences:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<blockquote>
<p>电话是谁打来的?</p>
<p>Diànhuà shì shuí dǎlái de?</p>
<p>Who was calling?</p>
</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>
<p>晚饭是妈妈做的。</p>
<p>Wǎnfàn shì māma zuò de.</p>
<p>Mom made dinner.</p>
</blockquote>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Which literally is something like:</p>
<ol>
<li><code>The phone call was by who done?</code></li>
<li><code>Dinner is by mama done.</code></li>
</ol>
<p>This looks quite <em>passive</em> to me as the object appears first in the sentence.</p>
<p><strong>Question 1</strong>:  I don't understand the word order. Is it because the structure 是...的 allows for passive sentences? I couldn't find any resources explaining this such as in <a href="https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/The_%22shi..._de%22_construction_for_emphasizing_details" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The &quot;shi... de&quot; construction for emphasizing details in resources.allsetlearning</a>. Could you provide some?</p>
<p>Instead, I would have expected the object to be positioned before or after the 的 (as explained in the section <a href="https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/The_%22shi..._de%22_construction_for_emphasizing_details#Position_of_.E7.9A.84" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Position of 的</a> from the previous link)：</p>
<ol>
<li><code>是谁打来电话的?</code> or <code>是谁打来的电话?</code></li>
<li><code>是妈妈做晚饭的.</code> or <code>是妈妈做的晚饭.</code></li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Question 2</strong>: Just to clarify, would this form be correct too?</p>

<grammar><usage><sentence-structure><phrase><word-order>
Passive object position in 是...的 structure?
# Passive object position in 是...的 structure?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-06-16)

I came across the following sentences:

1. > 电话是谁打来的?
   >
   > Diànhuà shì shuí dǎlái de?
   >
   > Who was calling?
2. > 晚饭是妈妈做的。
   >
   > Wǎnfàn shì māma zuò de.
   >
   > Mom made dinner.

Which literally is something like:

1. `The phone call was by who done?`
2. `Dinner is by mama done.`

This looks quite *passive* to me as the object appears first in the sentence.

**Question 1**: I don't understand the word order. Is it because the structure 是...的 allows for passive sentences? I couldn't find any resources explaining this such as in [The "shi... de" construction for emphasizing details in resources.allsetlearning](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/The_%22shi..._de%22_construction_for_emphasizing_details). Could you provide some?

Instead, I would have expected the object to be positioned before or after the 的 (as explained in the section [Position of 的](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/The_%22shi..._de%22_construction_for_emphasizing_details#Position_of_.E7.9A.84) from the previous link)：

1. `是谁打来电话的?` or `是谁打来的电话?`
2. `是妈妈做晚饭的.` or `是妈妈做的晚饭.`

**Question 2**: Just to clarify, would this form be correct too?

**Tags:** grammar, usage, sentence-structure, phrase, word-order

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-06-16. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

**question 1**

> I don't understand how is it allowed this order structure. Is it because the structure 是...的 allows for passive sentences?

是 ～ 的 is typically used for emphasis.

The position of the object in your two example sentences is given by the topic-comment construction, which is typical in Chinese.

If we break it down:

> 晚饭 topic
>
> (是)妈妈做(的) comment, with additional emphasis given by 是 ～ 的

It appears passive only if you go out of your way to keep the same word order in English.

**question 2**

> Just to clarify, would this form be correct too?

I would say that `是谁打来电话的?` and `是妈妈做晚饭的` don't feel right to me.

Whereas `是谁打来的电话` and `是妈妈做的晚饭` do, even though they shift the focus of the sentence on "who" and "mum" respectively: "who is it who called" and "it's mum who made dinner".

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: 1. I guess having the topic before the comment is allowed by the phenomena of "[topicalization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topicalization)" (see also [this other post](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/34423/25265) ). Is it usual in chinese to have this order? Does it sound a little bit stranger than the usual order? 2. You say having the object before 的 sounds weird to you. Maybe writing the object after 的 is more common in chinese because it gives more clarity to the detail that is emphasized...  
> **username_1**: Chinese IS a topic-comment language. In informal speech maybe you find it less often, but topic-comment order is how the language works most of the time. As of where to place the object w.r.t 的，it depends on the role 的 has in the sentence  
> **username_0**: Ah, I really didn't understood the *topic-comment construction* before. I'll just leave a link here if someone else has the same difficulty: [Topic-comment sentences in resources.allsetlearning.com](https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Topic-comment_sentences)  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2020-06-16. Score: 3

> In "是谁打来的电话" , the object is '电话'
>
> [电话]是谁打来的 (places the object before the verb emphasize the object, makes it a more important part in the sentence - The phone call is the topic)

~

In "是妈妈做的晚饭" , the object is '晚饭'

> [晚饭] 是妈妈做的 (place the object before the verb emphasize the object, makes it a more important part in the sentence - The dinner is the topic)

[的] marks 是谁打来[的] as an 'adjectival phrase' that describes the object to follow. In this case, it describes the object 电话 (phone call? What phone call? The phone call that was made by who)

[的] marks 是妈妈做[的] as an 'adjectival phrase' that describes the object to follow. In this case, it describes the object 晚饭 (dinner? What dinner? The dinner that was made by mother)

*是 = (it) is/ (it) was*


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-06-17. Score: 1

In fact, the meaning of the two sentences is similar, which is related to the habit of speaking and tone of voice.

Q: 是谁做的晚饭?
Answer: 是妈妈做的晚饭.
Q: 晚饭是谁做的?
Answer: 晚饭是妈妈做的.

Here have three words and different orders can be used to express the level of eating chili:
不怕辣；辣不怕；怕不辣.
Your choice is...


---

