People & Relationships: Vocabulary for family members, people, and relationships

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Pinyin is the standard romanisation used to show Mandarin pronunciation using the Latin alphabet. You’ll often see tone marks on the vowels to show the four tones (plus the neutral tone), for example mā / má / mǎ / mà / ma. “Numbered pinyin” shows the same tones using a number after the syllable instead of tone marks, for example ma1 / ma2 / ma3 / ma4 / ma (sometimes written as ma5 for the neutral tone). Numbered pinyin is handy when you can’t easily type tone marks, while tone-mark pinyin is usually easier to read once you’re used to it.

爱人

• Pinyin: ài rén
• Numbered pinyin: ai4 ren2
• English translation: spouse, partner

大家

• Pinyin: dà jiā
• Numbered pinyin: da4 jia1
• English translation: everyone

大人

• Pinyin: dà rén
• Numbered pinyin: da4 ren2
• English translation: adult

好人

• Pinyin: hǎo rén
• Numbered pinyin: hao3 ren2
• English translation: good person

坏人

• Pinyin: huài rén
• Numbered pinyin: huai4 ren2
• English translation: bad person

家庭

• Pinyin: jiā tíng
• Numbered pinyin: jia1 ting2
• English translation: friends & family, household

家长

• Pinyin: jiā zhǎng
• Numbered pinyin: jia1 zhang3
• English translation: parent/guardian

客人

• Pinyin: kè rén
• Numbered pinyin: ke4 ren2
• English translation: guest

老

• Pinyin: lǎo
• Numbered pinyin: lao3
• English translation: old (prefix)

老年

• Pinyin: lǎo nián
• Numbered pinyin: lao3 nian2
• English translation: old age

老朋友

• Pinyin: lǎo péng yǒu
• Numbered pinyin: lao3 peng2 you3
• English translation: old friend

青年

• Pinyin: qīng nián
• Numbered pinyin: qing1 nian2
• English translation: youth, young people

青少年

• Pinyin: qīng shào nián
• Numbered pinyin: qing1 shao4 nian2
• English translation: teenagers, youngsters

全家

• Pinyin: quán jiā
• Numbered pinyin: quan2 jia1
• English translation: the whole Friends & Family

全体

• Pinyin: quán tǐ
• Numbered pinyin: quan2 ti3
• English translation: all (the people), entire group

人口

• Pinyin: rén kǒu
• Numbered pinyin: ren2 kou3
• English translation: population

人们

• Pinyin: rén men
• Numbered pinyin: ren2 men5
• English translation: people

少年

• Pinyin: shào nián
• Numbered pinyin: shao4 nian2
• English translation: youth, young person

太太

• Pinyin: tài tai
• Numbered pinyin: tai4 tai5
• English translation: Mrs., wife

小

• Pinyin: xiǎo
• Numbered pinyin: xiao3
• English translation: little, young

姓

• Pinyin: xìng
• Numbered pinyin: xing4
• English translation: surname

姓名

• Pinyin: xìng míng
• Numbered pinyin: xing4 ming2
• English translation: full name

有人

• Pinyin: yǒu rén
• Numbered pinyin: you3 ren2
• English translation: someone

中年

• Pinyin: zhōng nián
• Numbered pinyin: zhong1 nian2
• English translation: middle-aged

主人

• Pinyin: zhǔ rén
• Numbered pinyin: zhu3 ren2
• English translation: master, host

组长

• Pinyin: zǔ zhǎng
• Numbered pinyin: zu3 zhang3
• English translation: team leader

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