Chinese Thread

Lucid Lounge
9

My family - 我的家庭 (Wǒ de jiātíng)

In this lesson, let’s learn to introduce our (immediate) family. First, let’s learn the word for house/home/family, which is the same in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese:

家 (jiā) ~you may recognize it from the phrase 大家 (dàjiā), literally “big” + “house”, or “everyone”

For brief overview of the character, it is composed of a roof symbol 宀 housing the character for pig 豕. This is from ancient times when people used to live under the same roof with livestock.
Why the character for ‘family’ has a pig inside a house

Now without further ado, let’s introduce our family!

Here’s a sample introduction for a family of five:

Here is the lesson in Traditional Chinese

我的家庭有五個人: 爸爸，媽媽，哥哥，姐姐和我。 (Wǒ de jiātíng yǒu wǔ gèrén: Bàba, māma, gēge, jiějie hé wǒ.)

Vocabulary:

  • 家庭 (jiātíng) family/household
  • 五 (wǔ) five
  • 個 (gè) (general measure word; used for people, i.e. an individual)
  • 人 (rén) person
  • 爸爸 (bàba) dad / 父親 (fùqīn) father
  • 媽媽 (māma) mom / 母親 (mǔqīn) father
  • 哥哥 (gēge) older brother
  • 姐姐 (jiějie) older sister
  • 弟弟 (dìdi) younger brother
  • 妹妹 (mèimei) younger sister
Here is the lesson in Simplified Chinese

我的家庭有五个人: 爸爸，妈妈，哥哥，姐姐和我。 (Wǒ de jiātíng yǒu wǔ gèrén: Bàba, māma, gēge, jiějie hé wǒ.)

Vocabulary:* 家庭 (jiātíng) family/household

  • 五 (wǔ) five
  • 个 (gè) (general measure word; used for people, i.e. an individual)
  • 人 (rén) person
  • 爸爸 (bàba) dad / 父亲 (fùqīn) father
  • 妈妈 (māma) mom / 母亲 (mǔqīn) father
  • 哥哥 (gēge) older brother
  • 姐姐 (jiějie) older sister
  • 弟弟 (dìdi) younger brother
  • 妹妹 (mèimei) younger sister

Note that Chinese uses a measure word 個 Simplified: 个 (gè) to indicate the number of people. For now, just remember to always add this when talking about how many people there are.

Note also that when refering to your siblings, birth order is important. Older siblings are given a distinction versus younger siblings. In Chinese, you don’t call your older siblings by their name, but by their titles, 哥哥 (gège) or 姐姐 (jiějie), as a form of respect, similar to how you don’t normally call your parents by their names. (This is why in English subtitles you sometimes get the translation of someone calling their siblings “older brother” or “older sister”, which sounds awkward in English, but is perfectly natural in Chinese.)

Females also generally have the radical 女 (nǚ), meaning “woman” on the left part of the character.

As you may have more or less than five people in your family, here’s some additional vocabulary: (these are the same in Traditional and Simplified):

  • 一 (yī) one
  • 兩 (liǎng) two, when used to indicate how many of something; use 二 (èr) when counting or specifying order
  • 三 (sān) three
  • 四 (sì) four
  • 五 (wǔ) five
  • 六 (liù) six
  • 七 (qī) seven
  • 八 (bā) eight
  • 九 (jiǔ) nine
  • 十 (shí) ten
  • 兄弟 (xiōngdì) brothers (兄 also means “older brother”)
  • 姐妹 (jiěmèi) sisters
  • 兄弟 姐妹 (xiōngdì jiěmèi) brothers and sisters/siblings
  • 父母 (fùmǔ) parents

If you have more than ten members in your family, no worries! Numbers are easy in Chinese once you can count to ten, and this will be the next lesson.

Here are some more examples!

In Traditional Chinese
  • 你有幾個弟弟? 我有兩個弟弟。 (Nǐ yǒu jǐ gè dìdi? Wǒ yǒu liǎng gè dìdi.) How many younger brothers do you have? I have two younger brothers.
  • 你的妹妹是我的朋友。 (Nǐ de mèimei shì wǒ de péngyǒu.) Your younger sister is my friend.
  • 他認識我的姐妹。 (Tā rènshì wǒ de jiěmèi.) He knows (is acquainted with) my sisters.
  • 爸爸給媽媽一個吻。 (Bàba gěi māmā yīgè wěn.) Dad gives mom a kiss. :*
  • 哥哥，來吃吧！(Gège, lái chī ba!) Gege, come eat!
  • 我沒有兄弟姐妹。 (Wǒ méiyǒu xiōngdì jiěmèi.) I don’t have siblings.
In Simplified Chinese
  • 你有几个弟弟? 我有两个弟弟。 (Nǐ yǒu jǐ gè dìdi? Wǒ yǒu liǎng gè dìdi.) How many younger brothers do you have? I have two younger brothers.
  • 你的妹妹是我的朋友。 (Nǐ de mèimei shì wǒ de péngyǒu.) Your younger sister is my friend.
  • 他认识我的姐妹。 (Tā rènshì wǒ de jiěmèi.) He knows (is acquainted with) my sisters.
  • 爸爸给妈妈一个吻。 (Bàba gěi māmā yīgè wěn.) Dad gives mom a kiss. :*
  • 哥哥，来吃吧！ (Gège, lái chī ba!) Gege, come eat!
  • 我没有兄弟姐妹。 (Wǒ méiyǒu xiōngdì jiěmèi.) I don’t have siblings.

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