To add to your question about how do you know shi is (de shihou) rather than (to be) as in "there are many air conditioners", if you remember that there would be "(shi ji ge) or (shi ji measure word) kongtiao" if someone was trying to say there are many airconditioners. Also the verb jide (to remember) helps you out as well if you remember that shi is a verb. So in this case if shi was indeed the verb (to be) you would not expect to see a verb (jide and guan) directly after.
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December 16, 2010, 05:59 AMTo add to your question about how do you know shi is (de shihou) rather than (to be) as in "there are many air conditioners", if you remember that there would be "(shi ji ge) or (shi ji measure word) kongtiao" if someone was trying to say there are many airconditioners. Also the verb jide (to remember) helps you out as well if you remember that shi is a verb. So in this case if shi was indeed the verb (to be) you would not expect to see a verb (jide and guan) directly after.