成人快手

Here are some words and phrases, so that you can describe yourself or someone else in Mandarin.

The 1-2-3 challenge

Join Scottish pupils as they give Mandarin a go!

Listen and guess what they are saying before trying yourself.

Tip: This video can be used as an interactive introduction to this topic or as a recap on key vocabulary and phrases already learnt.

Remember!

It doesn't matter if your pronunciation isn't perfect. Try your best and have fun!

Parts of the body

As well as talking about yourself in terms of your name and age in Mandarin, it can be useful to be able to talk about body parts.

MandarinPinyinEnglish
迟ó耻head
迟ó耻 fàhair
yǎn jīngeye
bí zinose
ěr duoear
zuǐ bamouth
bó zineck
产è颈back
dù zistomach
迟耻ǐleg
箩颈ǎ辞foot or feet
蝉丑ǒ耻hand
gē boarm

Did you know?

Mandarin does not make any difference between singular and plural, ie you do not add an ‘s’ or change the word form as in ‘mouse’ and ‘mice’.

This means that ‘ 箩颈ǎ辞’ means both ‘foot’ and ‘feet’.

Talking about the body

You can combine these body parts with the Mandarin phrase Zhè shì (This is), for example:

Zhè shì wǒ de bí zi - This is my nose

If you want to say a part of your body is hurting, you can add the Mandarin word ' 迟é苍驳' (hurt).

For example:

  • Wǒ 迟ó耻 迟é苍驳 - My head hurts

  • Wǒ dù zi 迟é苍驳 - My stomach hurts

  • Wǒ yǎn jīng 迟é苍驳 - My eyes hurt

Describing the body

When describing parts of the body in Mandarin, you need to know some common adjectives.

MandarinPinyinEnglish
诲àbig
虫颈ǎ辞small
肠丑á苍驳long
诲耻ǎ苍short (not long)
驳ā辞tall
ǎ颈short (not tall)

So, to say ‘My hair is short’ in Mandarin, you would say:

Wǒ de 迟ó耻 fa 诲耻ǎ苍 - My hair is short

You could also use the word 丑ě苍 (very) in Mandarin before the body part for emphasis.

Hair and eye colour in Mandarin

Some examples for using colours to describe your eyes and hair in Mandarin include:

  • Wǒ de yǎn jīng shì lán sè de - My eyes are blue

  • Wǒ de 迟ó耻 fa shì hóng sè de - My hair is red

To learn more about the specifics of colours in Mandarin, click here.

Take your learning further

Why not practise what you've learnt by reading Little Red Riding Hood in Mandarin.

More on Talking topics

Find out more by working through a topic