Name · 05901bbe6fcc68047fc563a841854221

Chinese Syllables

Chinese syllables usually contain three parts: an initial (like g, k, or h), a final that contains at least one vowel (for example, a, ao, or ing), and a tone marking.

Pinyin syllable for 名 (míng), which means name.

Initial Sounds

Pinyin letters b, p, m, f are pronounced similarly to sounds in English.

bā八
as in "spy"
pò破
as in "park"
míng名
as in "mother"
fàn饭
as in “father”

Chinese Names

In Chinese, the family name comes first, followed by the given name (or what we might call first name in English). In the example below, 李 (Lǐ) is the family name and 华 (Huá) is the given name.

你叫什么？
Nǐ jiào shénme?
What’s your name?

李华。
Lǐ Huá.
Huá Lǐ.

It is common in China for people to call each other by their family names. To ask someone's family name, you can use 姓 (xìng).

你姓什么？
Nǐ xìng shénme?
What’s your family name?

李。
Lǐ.
Lǐ.

Asking Questions with 呢 (ne)

呢 (ne) is used at the end of a sentence to ask things like And you? or What about her? It normally answers a question that’s just been asked while directing the question to someone else.

你叫什么？
Nǐ jiào shénme?
What’s your name?

我叫 Duo，你呢？
Wǒ jiào Duo, nǐ ne?
My name is Duo. And you?