她不是學生

S + 不 + V negates a verb: 她不是學生 (she is not a student) · 我哥哥不工作 (my older brother does not work). Tone change: 不 is bù, but before another 4th tone it becomes bú — 不是 bú shì. Remember from Lesson 2: 有 is the one verb 不 never touches — that one takes 沒.

The place comes BEFORE the verb: S + 在 + place + V — 我姊姊在銀行工作 (my older sister works at a bank) · 我在電腦公司工作 (I work at a computer company). Never English order (✗工作在銀行).

Question words sit exactly where the answer will: 她在哪裡工作？ (Where does she work?) → 她在銀行工作。 Swap 哪裡 for the place, done — no word-order change, no extra particle.

都 goes AFTER a plural subject, BEFORE the verb: 他們都是學生 (they are all students) · 兩個小孩都在小學念書 (both kids study at elementary school). Negated: 都不 — 他們都不是學生 (none of them is a student).

了 after a verb marks a completed change of state: 她大學畢業了 (she graduated) · 我姊姊結婚了 (my older sister got married). This chapter uses it in the fixed phrases 畢業了 and 結婚了 — learn them whole.