Family Members in Chinese

When we take a look at the names for family members in Chinese, you might notice two important details.  First, for the name of the family member, you simply repeat one character two times.  Second, you will find that for female members, you will often see that part of the character (often called a radical) is actually the character that symbolizes woman.

Let’s take a look at those names now, so you can get off to a great start in learning Chinese . . .

Notice that the second of the two characters of each name is said with a neutral tone (no tone at all, but sometimes for English speakers it’s easier to think of the neutral tone almost as a first tone with a higher, flat pitch).

At any rate, we’ve already seen how to say you in Chinese, I in Chinese, and all the other personal pronouns, so it’s about time that we took a look at the names of family members!

If you want to learn to speak Chinese, then see a great first book on how to speak the tones and learn important grammar in the process.  For those who love video, hello in Chinese, thank you in Chinese, you’re welcome in Chinese, and good bye in Chinese are a great place to start!