CHIN1200 Week 6 Lesson 2: Family (Jiātíng)

Vocabulary and grammar terms from CHIN1200 Week 6 Lesson 2 regarding Chinese kinship, demonstratives, measure words, and basic sentence structures.

家庭 (jiātíng)

The Chinese word for family.

那 (nà)

A demonstrative pronoun meaning 'that'. It is often used in the structure: 那 + (numeral) + measure word + noun.

这 (zhè)

A demonstrative pronoun meaning 'this'. It is often used in the structure: 这 + (numeral) + measure word + noun.

照片 (zhàopiàn)

Photo or picture.

爷爷 (yéye) & 奶奶 (nǎinai)

Paternal grandfather and paternal grandmother.

外公 (wàigōng) & 外婆 (wàipó)

Maternal grandfather and maternal grandmother.

哥哥 (gēge) & 姐姐 (jiějie)

Older brother and older sister.

弟弟 (dìdi) & 妹妹 (mèimei)

Younger brother and younger sister.

儿子 (érzi) & 女儿 (nǚér)

Son and daughter.

太太 (tàitai)

A term with two meanings: 1) wife (e.g., his wife), or 2) Mrs. (e.g., Mrs. Li).

兄弟姐妹 (xiōngdì jiěmèi)

Siblings; literally 'brothers and sisters'.

大哥 (dàgē) & 大姐 (dàjiě)

Oldest brother and oldest sister.

小弟 (xiǎodì) & 小妹 (xiǎomèi)

Youngest brother and youngest sister.

的 (de)

A possessive particle used between the possessor and the possessed; it is often omitted in colloquial speech when indicating a close relationship (e.g., wǒ bàba).

个 (ge)

The most common measure word in Chinese, placed between a number and a noun.

谁 (shéi)

A question pronoun meaning 'who' or 'whom'.

有 (yǒu)

A verb meaning 'to have' or 'to exist'. It is always negated with 没 (méi) rather than 不 (bù).

几 (jǐ)

A question pronoun meaning 'how many', 'some', or 'few'. It is typically used for small numbers and requires a measure word.

多少 (duōshao)

A question pronoun used to ask 'how many' for any number; a measure word is often optional.

口 (kǒu)

A measure word specifically used for the number of family members.

和 (hé)

A conjunction meaning 'and' that can only be used to connect nouns.

做 (zuò)

A verb meaning 'to do'.

英语 (Yīngyǔ) & 汉语 (Hànyǔ)

English language and Chinese language.

学生 (xuéshēng)

Student. Variants include 大学生 (dàxuéshēng/university student), 中学生 (zhōngxuéshēng/middle school student), and 小学生 (xiǎoxuéshēng/elementary school student).

两 (liǎng)

The form of the number 'two' used in front of common measure words to express quantity (e.g., $2$ people).

二 (èr)

The form of the number 'two' used for counting (e.g., $1, 2, 3$) or in the last two digits of compound numerals (e.g., $22$).

都 (dōu)

An adverb meaning 'both' or 'all' that indicates inclusiveness and always appears before a verb.

不都有 (bù dōu yǒu)

The phrase used for partial negation, meaning 'not all… have'.

那 (nà)

that

这 (zhè)

this

照片 (zhàopiàn)

photo

爷爷 (yéye)

paternal grandfather

奶奶 (nǎinai)

paternal grandmother

爸爸 (bàba)

father

妈妈 (māma)

mother

弟弟 (dìdi)

younger brother

妹妹 (mèimei)

younger sister

哥哥 (gēge)

older brother

姐姐 (jiějie)

older sister

外婆 (wàipó)

maternal grandmother

外公 (wàigòng)

maternal grandfather

儿子 (érzi)

son

女儿 (nǚér)

daughter

大人 (dà rén)

adult

小孩 (xiǎo hái)

child

男孩子 (nánháizi)

boy

女孩子 (nǚháizi)

girl