People in Chinese

Learn how to identify a third party relationship to you and learn words for friend, family, coworker, etc.

Here are some words for people:

Q: Who is this person to you?
这位是你的什么人？ zhè wèi shì nǐ de shén me rén?

A: This is my friend. His name is X.	A: This is my mom. Her name is Y.
这位是我的朋友。他叫 X。 zhè wèi shì wǒ de péng yǒu. tā jiào X.	这位是我妈妈。她叫 Y。 zhè wèi shì wǒ mā mā. tā jiào Y.

*if the person is a family member directly related to you, you don’t need to write “的”. (so instead of “我的妈妈”, you can write “我妈妈”.)

Some words from the people terms above

Chinese	English
家 jiā	home, family
教 jiào	to teach
老 lǎo	old
学 xué	to learn
同 tóng	same
事 shì	thing, business
人 rén	people
女 nǚ	a radical (a component of a Chinese character) for female

See how these sentences work in conversation in this comic!!

Try deciphering the comic on your own, then click the sentences below to reveal the definition and pinyin.

C：早上好。

zǎoshang hǎo – Good morning.

B：这位是你的什么人？

zhè wèi shì nǐ de shénme rén? – Who is this person to you?

C：这位是我的邻居，她叫 A。

zhè wèi shì wǒ de línjū, tā jiào A. – This is my neighbor, her name is A.

B：很高兴认识您，我叫 B。

hěn gāoxìng rènshí nín, wǒ jiào B. – Nice to meet you, my name is B.

B：很高兴认识您！

hěn gāoxìng rènshí nín! – Nice to meet you!