Chinese Vocabulary · 中文词汇
Family and Pronoun Words in Chinese
家庭与代名词词汇 jiātíng yǔ dàimíngcí cíhuì
Before we get into the vocabulary, a bit of context: traditional Chinese culture puts a lot of weight on respect and harmony within the family, a mindset that traces back to Confucian values. These days, younger generations are drifting away from that family-first mentality a little — but even so, children are still generally expected to defer to their parents and show respect to their elders in pretty much every situation.
Who’s who at the table
Family Words in Chinese
| Chinese | Pinyin | English | Korean | Japanese |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 家人 | jiārén | Family member | 가족 | 家族 |
| 爸爸 | bàba | Father | 아버지 | 父 |
| 妈妈 | māma | Mother | 어머니 | 母 |
| 姐姐 | jiějie | Elder sister | 누나, 언니 | 姉 |
| 哥哥 | gēge | Elder brother | 형, 오빠 | 兄 |
| 妹妹 | mèimei | Younger sister | 여동생 | 妹 |
| 弟弟 | dìdi | Younger brother | 남동생 | 弟 |
| 女儿 | nǚér | Daughter | 딸 | 娘 |
| 儿子 | érzi | Son | 아들 | 息子 |
| 先生 | xiānsheng | Husband, Mr. | 남편 | 夫 |
| 太太 | tàitai | Wife, Mrs. | 아내 | 妻 |
| 孩子 | háizi | Child | 아이 | 子供 |
Putting it all together
Examples
我太太非常愛吃臭豆腐我太太非常爱吃臭豆腐 My wife loves stinky tofu.
我沒有孩子，但是我有一隻狗我没有孩子，但是我有一只狗 I don’t have children, but I have a dog.
Talking about people
Pronoun Words in Chinese
| Chinese | Pinyin | English | Korean | Japanese |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 我 | wǒ | I, me | 저 | 私 |
| 我们 | wǒmen | We, us | 저희 | 私達 |
| 你/妳 | nǐ | You | 너 | 貴方/貴女 |
| 你们/妳们 | nǐmen | You (plural) | 너희 | 君たち |
| 您 | nín | You (honorific) | 당신 | 貴様 |
| 他/她 | tā | He / She, him / her | 그 | 彼/彼女 |
| 他们/她们 | tāmen | They, them | 그들 | 彼等 |
他 tā
The character’s radical means “human,” so 他 technically can stand for both “he” and “she” — just never “it.”
你/妳 nǐ
The radical of 你 is also “human,” not “male” — so in ancient Chinese, there was no gendered distinction in the pronoun at all. That said, ancient China was still very much a male-dominated society: most women never had the chance to go to school or learn to read and write, so in practice, “human” ended up meaning “male.”
That changed around 40 years ago, when the feminist movement pushed for women to have their own pronoun. People took an old, rarely-used character, 嬭 (originally a respectful term for older women), and simplified it into 妳. That’s the moment Chinese pronouns picked up gender.
Putting it all together
Examples
你還記得我嗎？你还记得我吗？ Do you still remember me?
我們已經分手了我们已经分手了 We’ve broken up.
Test yourself
Vocabulary Quiz
