Beginner Lesson 8.1 – Question Word Who; Parents and Friends
Question Word Who In Chinese | Parents And Friends In Chinese
Learn how to use question word who in Chinese and how to say families and friends in Chinese.
- Question Word in Chinese: 谁
- Parents and friends in Chinese: 爸爸 妈妈 朋友
- Omission of Possessive Particle 的 for people with close relationships
- Sentence Word Order in Chinese
VOCABULARY
GRAMMAR
Grammar 1: Question Word Who in Chinese 谁 · HSK 1
shéi; shuí 谁 who
谁 is the question word WHO in Chinese. It can be pronounced in two different ways: shéi or shuí. For example,
- nǐ shì shéi
你是谁？
who are you - nǐ shì shuí
你是谁？
who are you
Dialogue example:
Q: tā shì shéi
他是谁？
who is he
A: tā shì wǒ de bàba
他是我的爸爸。
he is my dad
Q: tā shì shuí
她是谁？
who is she
A: tā shì wǒ de māma
她是我的妈妈。
she is my mom
Grammar 2: Sentence Word Order in Chinese · HSK 1
The sentence word order in Chinese goes like this:
Subject - Verb - Object or S - V - O for short
| S | V | O | |
| wǒ 我 I |
shì 是 am |
Zhōngguórén 中国人 Chinese |
。 |
When we are asking a question, the word order does not change, it is still S-V-O:
| S | V | O | |
| tā 他 he |
shì 是 is |
shéi 谁 who |
？ |
| shéi 谁 who |
shì 是 is |
nǐde māma 你的妈妈 your mom |
？ |
Grammar 3: Omission of Possessive Particle 的 · HSK 1
When the Possessive Particle 的 goes after personal pronouns, you can usually skip 的 for people who have a very close relationship to you.
| 的 | |||
| wǒ bàba 我爸爸 |
= | wǒde bàba 我的爸爸 |
my dad |
| nǐ māma 你妈妈 |
= | nǐde māma 你的妈妈 |
your mom |
| tā péngyou 她朋友 |
= | tāde péngyou 她的朋友 |
her friend |
Grammar 4: Parents and Friends in Chinese · HSK 1
There is actually a word to say parents in Chinese, which is jiāzhǎng 家长. But for beginners, we can just say 爸爸妈妈 instead to mean the same thing. And to say friends in Chinese we can just say the word péngyou 朋友. If we want to be specific and say "more than one friend", we can use the Plural Particle 们 and say péngyoumen 朋友们.
A: 他们 是 谁？
B: 他们 是 我， 我 的 老婆 *，外孙女**， 孙女***。
A: 她 是 谁？
B: 她 是 我 老婆。
A: 她 是 谁？
B: 她是 我 外孙女。
A: 她 是 谁？
B: 她 是 我 孙女。
A: 他 是 谁？
B: 他 是 我。
*老婆: lǎopo (coll) wife
**外孙女: wàisūn nǚ daughter’s daughter
***孙女: sūnnǚ. son’s daughter
I only knew 你好 and 妈妈/爸爸 when I entered, and now, I know a lot more things! thank you Lili for your hard work!
你好。
Is 谁是你的爸爸？considered more polite than 谁是你爸爸？
Is pronouncing 谁 as shuí considered more polite than shéi ?
in pengyou do we pronounce the “g”?
Please refer to our Pinyin Course.
I’m done pinyin and moving to tones and this (obviously)
What’s the difference between ‘谁是你？’ and ‘你是谁？’? I guess they mean ‘Which one is you?’ and ‘Who are you?’ respectively, but is it right?
Yes, 谁是你 “who to be you” means “who (out of these ones)/(which one) are you”. For example when you hold a picture of a group of people and say 谁是你, it means, which one is you.
你是谁 “you to be whom”, means “who are you?” Like if you don’t know someone and want them to introduce themselves.
Oh, thank you so much! That was so quick answer.
(I’ve seen ‘谁是你的爸爸？’ in the sixth question.)
Yes, it means “who (out of these ones)/(which one) is your dad?”
Your quizzes are awesome!