Mandarin: Talking about family

Family (家庭Jiā tíng) has always been very important in Chinese culture.

During the Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival, Chinese people make every effort to travel home and reunite with their family.

The words for your parents in Mandarin are quite simple:

• 爸爸bà ba – father

• 妈妈mā ma – mother

• 爸爸妈妈bà ba mā ma – parents

In Mandarin, there are two options for sister and two for brother, depending on whether they are older or younger than you.

In Mandarin, different words are used to describe the grandparents who are your father’s parents and the grandparents who are your mother’s parents.

The same is true for all other relatives too, eg uncles, aunts and cousins.

‘口Kǒu’ is the measure word used in Mandarin when talking about the number of members in a family - it literally means ‘a mouth’.

To ask about someone’s family in Mandarin, you can say:

你家有几口人？Nǐ jiā yǒu jǐ kǒu rén? – How many people are there in your family?

To answer in Mandarin, you could say:

我家有四口人。Wǒ jiā yǒu sì kǒu rén – There are four people in my family

You can switch out four (四sì) for any other number, eg one (一yī), three (三sān) etc except for ‘two’.

When you want to say you have two of something in Mandarin, you don’t use 二èr (two).

Instead, you use the Mandarin word 两liǎng.

You can also use the phrase 我有Wǒ yǒu (I have) in Mandarin:

• 我有一个哥哥Wǒ yǒu yī gè gē ge – I have one older brother

• 我有两个妹妹Wǒ yǒu liǎng gè mèi mei – I have two younger sisters

Did you know?

To introduce a family member, you can use 这是Zhè shì (This is) with the particle 的de to express possession.

So, to introduce your mother, you would say:

这是我的妈妈Zhè shì wǒ de mā ma – This is my mother