"Are you a teacher?"

Translation: 你是老师吗？

[NataliiaVesikko]

What is 一个？

[Emy__3]

In Chinese definite/indefinite articles don't exist, however, as for a - an, it can be replaced with:

一 yī (number one, but also considered as the article a - an) + a classifier

note: all the chinese classifiers (they are around 150) serve every time you have to quantify things, in particular this 个 (gè) is used for people or abstract and general things, but also when it's not clear what is the correct classifier. I give you an example on how to use it:

八个人 - bā gè rén (eight people)

一个问题 - yi gè wèntí (a/one question).

in these cases you don't have to translate 个 (gè), just like in DL sentence, but remember that classifiers are mandatory in Chinese speaking of quantity.

note2: really, speaking about only people, when you have to espress politeness, the right classifier is 位 (wèi), so we could also say:

一位老师 - yī wèi lǎoshī (a teacher)

but be careful, it's not possible use it with 人 - rén (person).

Bye

[Lollygal233]

in this context, it's basically "a", but it also means one of.

[DmitryReve]

Is it really spoken that way?

[ThienHo12]

Yi ge means "a" in english

[Annemieke429615]

A counting word, meaning the amount of one

[Tomificus689]

教師 should also be accepted, I'm a native speaker and there are lots of variations on the term "teacher" in Chinese.

[Powerwig]

agreed

[Powerwig]

any reason 你是不是老师？ isn't accepted, for me this sounds just as natural

[Nick112434]

Technically the sentance is correct, but it would be more rude and sound like "Are you or are you not a teacher?"

[Briter_xy]

... I hate it, “一个” mean a/an but it have no need to be add to sentence to make it “你是一个老师吗？”, “你是老师吗？” also correct.

[Sikeryali]

I wrote 他是一个老师 and still managed to be marked correct ☺️. I clearly missed 吗 and ?.

[Alphaf]

[28/12/18] And you also typed 他 instead of 你.

[SamyBencherif]

When to use 吗 vs 什么 ?

[SamyBencherif]

Is the first one for yes-no questions?

[SpiccyyyMyrrh]

I was so confused lol because when my tutor used to teach traditional Chinese to me and I used the old 'ma' form.

[ZoConnieCr]

你是不是老师 ? Is not correct ?

[SamyBencherif]

Why do you use 不?

[ShannonWil642279]

Do you add a "吗" to the end of a question?

[ThreeDollar]

Shouldn't there be an "一个"

[AlanJ3]

I typed 你是老师马 and it was wrong. Am I missing something?