Beginner Lesson 8.1 – Question Word Who; Parents and Friends

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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  


I
shì

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


he
shì

is
shéi

who
shéi

who
shì

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.

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.

13 Comments
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Suuki NegatoV Premium Student July 3, 2024 at 3:51 pm
John Tynes Premium Student September 29, 2021 at 8:48 pm

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    

Suzy Premium Student August 4, 2021 at 8:34 am

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!

Saires Premium Student August 23, 2020 at 2:56 am

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 ?

Raghadsubhi12 Premium Student April 27, 2020 at 3:31 pm

in pengyou do we pronounce the “g”?

Please refer to our Pinyin Course.

Suzy Premium Student August 4, 2021 at 8:36 am

I’m done pinyin and moving to tones and this (obviously)

Yeong-u (榮禹) Kim (金) Premium Student October 23, 2017 at 9:39 pm

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.

Yeong-u (榮禹) Kim (金) Premium Student October 23, 2017 at 9:44 pm

Oh, thank you so much! That was so quick answer.

Yeong-u (榮禹) Kim (金) Premium Student October 23, 2017 at 9:43 pm

(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?”

wohengaoxing Premium Student September 5, 2017 at 8:02 pm

Your quizzes are awesome!

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