Chinese Gender

Welcome to the fifth Chinese lesson about gender. This time we will view a list of people, feminine and masculine, followed by grammar rules, finally a list of expressions in Chinese to help you practice your daily phrases. To hear the pronunciation, just click on the sound icon.

man 男人 [nán rén]

woman 女人 [nǚ rén]

husband 丈夫 [zhàng fū]

wife 妻子 [qī zǐ]

boy 男孩 [nán hái]

girl 女孩 [nǚ hái]

father 父亲 [fù qīn]

mother 母亲 [mǔ qīn]

Gender Grammar Rules

In general, gender is used to distinguish between male and female, sometimes referred to as masculine and feminine. For example: my son and daughter are students the noun [son] is masculine, while [daughter] is feminine. The following examples use gender in different ways and places to demonstrate their behavior.

Grammar + Rules - Chinese + Pronunciation
my son is a student [masculine + noun] 我的儿子是学生 [wǒ de ér zi shì xué shēng]
her daughter is a student [feminine + noun] 她的女儿是一个学生 [tā de nǚ ér shì yī gè xué shēng]
he has a tall brother [adjective + masculine] 他有一个高大的哥哥 [tā yǒu yī gè gāo dà de gē gē]
she has a tall sister [adjective + feminine] 她有一个高大的妹妹 [tā yǒu yī gè gāo dà de mèi mèi]
his brothers are young [plural masculine + adjective] 他的兄弟们都很年轻 [tā de xiōng dì men dōu hěn nián qīng]
his sisters are young [plural feminine + adjective] 他的姐妹们都很年轻 [tā de jiě mèi men dōu hěn nián qīng]

The list below will probably provide more clarification. These are family members (males and females). I think it would be wise to memorize them as part of your important vocabulary list.

son 儿子 [ér zi]

daughter 女儿 [nǚ ér]

brother 兄 [xiōng]

sister 姐 [jiě]

grandfather 祖父 [zǔ fù]

grandmother 祖母 [zǔ mǔ]

child 孩子 [hái zi]

children 儿童 [ér tóng]

Expressions in Chinese

Now it's time to practice expressions used in daily conversations. If you're a beginner in learning Chinese, then the phrases below are something you would want to know.

English - Chinese - Pronunciation
What do you mean? 你是什​​么意思？ [nǐ shì shén shí shén me yì si?]
I don't understand 我不明白 [wǒ bù míng bái]
I don't know 我不知道 [wǒ bù zhī dào]
What is that called in Chinese? 那个用中文怎么说？ [nà gè yòng zhōng wén zěn me shuō?]
What is this? 这是什么？ [zhè shì shén mē?]
What does that word mean in English? 这个字在英语里是什么意思？ [zhè gè zì zài yīng yǔ lǐ shì shén me yì si?]
Sorry (if you made a mistake) 抱歉 [bào qiàn]

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