People and family in Mandarin

MFL, Mandarin vocabulary. Usually met in years 7 to 11.

Learn Mandarin words for family, friends and describing people, written in simplified characters with pinyin.

What you practise

Reading the meaning of characters
Choosing the characters for an English word
Words with and without the pinyin shown

Starts with everyday words shown with pinyin and moves to characters on their own. Practice moves up a level when a round goes well and down when it does not.

Sample questions

Each sample comes with the method and the reason every wrong option is wrong. Real practice rounds are ten questions at your level.

Sample question, level 2 of 5

What does 孩子 (hái zi) mean?

older brother
person
child
friendly
personality

Show the answer and method

Answer: C, child

The method: 孩子 (hái zi) means ‘child’.

Why the other options are wrong:

A, older brother: ‘older brother’ is 哥哥 (gē ge).
B, person: ‘person’ is 人 (rén).
D, friendly: ‘friendly’ is 友好 (yǒu hǎo).
E, personality: ‘personality’ is 性格 (xìng gé).

Sample question, level 4 of 5

Which characters mean ‘grandmother (father’s mother)’?

朋友
孩子
奶奶
哥哥
裤子

Show the answer and method

Answer: C, 奶奶

The method: 奶奶 (nǎi nai) means ‘grandmother (father’s mother)’.

Why the other options are wrong:

A, 朋友: 朋友 (péng you) means ‘friend’.
B, 孩子: 孩子 (hái zi) means ‘child’.
D, 哥哥: 哥哥 (gē ge) means ‘older brother’.
E, 裤子: 裤子 (kù zi) means ‘trousers’.

See where this fits: every language topic and Key Stage 3.