Mandarin: Talking about yourself

In Mandarin, there are two verbs that can be used when asking for someone’s name.

There is 叫jiào to ask for a person’s full name, or in some cases their first name, and 姓xìng to ask for a person’s last name.

This gives you two different ways of asking for someone’s name in Mandarin:

• 你叫什么Nǐ jiào shén me? – What’s your name?

• 你姓什么Nǐ xìng shén me? – What’s your last name?

You can answer in Mandarin using:

• 我叫Wǒ jiào – My name is…

• 我姓Wǒ xìng – My last name is…

To ask someone’s age in Mandarin, you can use either:

• 你几岁了？Nǐ jǐ suì le? – How old are you?

• 你多大了？Nǐ duō dà le? – How old are you?

You can answer either question in Mandarin using:

我 … 岁了Wǒ … suì le – I am … years old.

You can learn about Mandarin numbers here.

Did you know?

In China, when you are asking for the age of someone older than you, you show your respect by asking:

您多大年纪了？Nín duō dà nián jì le? – How old are you?

To ask where a person lives in Mandarin, you can use:

你住在哪里?Nǐ zhù zài nǎ lǐ? – Where do you live?

You can answer this question in Mandarin with:

我住在Wǒ zhù zài – I live in…

To ask where a person is from in Mandarin, you can use:

你来自哪里?Nǐ lái zì nǎ lǐ? – Where are you from?

You can answer this question in Mandarin with:

我来自Wǒ lái zì – I am from…