Mandarin: Talking about school

Learning Mandarin in school (学校xué xiào) makes it a great place to practise the language.

There are lots of objects around school that can be useful to know in Mandarin, including your school bag and what you might find inside it.

To talk about your own school supplies in Mandarin, you can use the phrases:

我有Wǒ yǒu – I have

这是Zhè shì – This is

To say ‘I have a pencil’ in Mandarin you would not simply say ‘我有铅笔Wǒ yǒu qiān bǐ’ – this misses out the ‘a’.

In Mandarin, measure words are used to describe the type of object being discussed.

For objects around school, these are:

So, to say ‘I have a pencil’ in Mandarin you would say:

我有一支铅笔Wǒ yǒu yī zhī qiān bǐ – I have a pencil

Did you know?

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

When walking around school, try saying some of the common places in Mandarin.

To talk about places around your school in Mandarin, you can use the phrases 我在Wǒ zài (I am at) or 我要去Wǒ yào qù (I am going to).

For example:

• 我在食堂Wǒ zài shí tang – I am in the canteen

• 我要去教室Wǒ yào qù jiào shì – I am going to the classroom

Some common subjects studied in school in Mandarin include:

When talking about a lesson in school in Mandarin, you need to add ‘课kè’ (lesson) to the end of the subject.

For example:

• 数学课shù xué kè – Maths lesson

• 英语课yīng yǔ kè – English lesson

You can then combine this with the Mandarin phrase 我在上Wǒ zài shàng (I am having).

For example:

• 我在上地理课Wǒ zài shàng dì lǐ kè – I am having a Geography lesson

• 我在上 体育课Wǒ zài shàng tǐ yù kè – I am having a PE lesson

There is no measure word needed here.