Voted Best Answer
Jun 11, 2013 - 11:54 AM
Hi! Great question. The verb shi can be a bit tricky. The first sentence "zhe shi" translates to "this is". (This is the menu?) Where the second sentence just uses "zhe" or "this". (This coffee is good.) The shi was omitted on the second sentence, and it was replaced with the measure word "ge". Often times words are omitted in Mandarin when they are implied. Therefore, in many cases you can use "shi", or leave it out and still be understood. (As long as it is implied.)