Who Am I? - Family and Personal Characteristics
Start reading Chinese characters and talking about your family. Learn the key words in character and pinyin, meet the tones, and the older and younger siblings.
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Reading Chinese 🀄
Chinese is written with **characters**: each character is one syllable and carries meaning, so there is no alphabet to sound out. To help learners, we also use **pinyin**, which spells the sound in our letters with **tone marks**. In this module every word is shown three ways: **character**, **pinyin**, and **English**.
Saying who you are 🙋
Two building blocks to introduce yourself: - **我 (wǒ)** = I - **我叫 (wǒ jiào)** = I am called / my name is So 我叫... (wǒ jiào...) begins "my name is...". Small pieces first.
The family 👨👩👧
The core family words: - **爸爸 (bàba)** = dad, **妈妈 (māma)** = mum - **哥哥 (gēge)** = older brother, **弟弟 (dìdi)** = younger brother - **姐姐 (jiějie)** = older sister, **妹妹 (mèimei)** = younger sister - **家 (jiā)** = family/home, **朋友 (péngyou)** = friend
Match each Chinese word to its meaning
- 我 (wǒ)
- 家 (jiā)
- 爸爸 (bàba)
- 妈妈 (māma)
- 朋友 (péngyou)
- I
- family
- dad
- mum
- friend
Spot the word
Which word means "mum"?
- 妈妈 (māma)
- 爸爸 (bàba)
- 家 (jiā)
- 我 (wǒ)
Older or younger? 👦
Chinese does not have one word for "brother" or "sister". It tells you the **age order**: - **哥哥 (gēge)** = OLDER brother, **弟弟 (dìdi)** = YOUNGER brother - **姐姐 (jiějie)** = OLDER sister, **妹妹 (mèimei)** = YOUNGER sister
Match each word to the exact sibling
- 哥哥 (gēge)
- 弟弟 (dìdi)
- 姐姐 (jiějie)
- 妹妹 (mèimei)
- older brother
- younger brother
- older sister
- younger sister
Say it exactly
Your brother is YOUNGER than you. Which word do you use?
- 弟弟 (dìdi)
- 哥哥 (gēge)
- 妹妹 (mèimei)
- 姐姐 (jiějie)
The four tones 🎵
Mandarin has **four tones**, shown by a mark over the vowel in pinyin: - 1st, high and flat: **mā** - 2nd, rising: **má** - 3rd, dipping: **mǎ** - 4th, falling: **mà** The tone changes the meaning: mā can mean mother, while mǎ means horse. Tones are not optional.
Tones and meaning
Why do the tone marks in pinyin (like mā, má, mǎ, mà) matter?
- Different tones give different meanings, so they are essential
- They are just decoration
- They show where to pause
- They mark capital letters
Family members
Select ALL THREE words that are family members.
- 爸爸 (bàba)
- 妈妈 (māma)
- 姐姐 (jiějie)
- 朋友 (péngyou)
- 我 (wǒ)
- 我叫 (wǒ jiào)
Introduce yourself
An interactive activity.
The right word
Using the pinyin, complete: "dad" is _____, "mum" is _____, "older brother" is _____, and "friend" is _____.
Chinese summary
Chinese is written with _____, and pinyin shows how to say them using four _____. Family words show age, so an older brother is _____ but a younger brother is _____.