Question about the phrase 你是誰

[Ness]

I'm fairly new to learning Chinese. I'm trying to focus on a lot of the grammar setup within the language. I'm confused about the phrase 你是誰. I thought that 是 connects nouns. But 誰 isn't a noun right? I'm assuming there is some special rule in place?

[Carl Chen]

誰 denotes somebody you don't know.

 

If it is translated literally, 你是誰 is "you are who?"

 

I think the usage of "who" is similar to 誰

[Shelley]

是 means is, are, am, yes, to be. Not sure that is used to connect nouns. The phrase you have there means -you are who?

 

I don't think there is a special rule, where did you find out that it is supposed to connect nouns? I have to admit I have never heard of it before.

 

谁 is not a noun it means who.

[edelweis]

誰 is a pronoun. Just like in the English language, it can be used in place of a noun.

BTW 你 is a pronoun too.

 

I think that for beginners saying that 是 "connects nouns" is a way to prevent using 是 with "adjectives"...

(even though you will learn later on that there are some instances where 是 can be followed by an adjective)

[Hofmann]

是 connects noun phrases. 誰 is a noun, just like English "who" and "whom."

[Ness]

誰 as a pronoun makes more sense then. Beceause I forgot that words like 他 can easily be used with 是. Thanks.