How to address family members in Chinese

In this post I will cover how to address family members in Chinese, including you husband, wife, parents, girlfriend and boyfriend, aunties, uncles , grandparents and cousins.

How to address your husband or wife in Chinese

The common way to refer to your husband and wife in Chinese are lǎogōng 老lǎo公gōng (husband) and lǎopó 老lǎo婆pó (wife). While these could be literally translated to mean “old man” and “old woman’ they are in fact respectful and common.

These are the are many other names by which you can address your wife or husband below:

Chinese	Pinyin Pronunciations	Literal translation
老lǎo公gōng	lǎogōng	Old Man
先Xiān生sheng	xiānshēng	Mister
丈zhàng夫fu	zhàngfū	Male
爱ài人ren	àirén	Love

Generally lǎogōng 老lǎo公gōng and àirén 爱ài人ren are the most common ways of addressing your husband.

Below is a list of ways to address your wife in Chinese:

Chinese	Pinyin Pronunciations	Literal translation
老lǎo婆pó	lăopó	Old woman
妻qī子zǐ	qīzi	Wife
夫fū人ren	fūrén	Lady
太tài太tai	tàitai	Mrs

lăopó 老婆) is a a common way to refer to your wife, while the other forms of address listed above are more formal

How to address your girlfriend or boyfriend in Chinese

It is common to refer to your girlfriend as  nǚ péngyǒu 女nǚ朋péng友you and boyfriend as nán péngyǒu 男nán朋péng友you. Generally you shouldn’t refer to your girlfriend, boyfriend or fiancé as àirén 爱ài人ren. lăopó 老lǎo婆pó or lǎogōng 老lǎo公gōng.

How to address your girlfriend or boyfriends parents in Chinese

Generally you should address your girlfriend’s or boyfriend’s parents as shūshu 叔shū叔shu (Uncle) and āyí 阿ā姨yí (Auntie). In countries with ethnic Chinese populations such as Malaysia and Singapore where English is also spoken, you will find that people simply call their girlfriend’s or boyfriend’s parents “Auntie’ and “Uncle” in English.

How to address family members in Chinese

In Chinese language when addressing family members there are different forms of address depending on a persons relative age.

How to address your father, mother, sister or brother in Chinese

This is a list of  how to address your mother, father, sister and brothers in Chinese. As you can see it is important in Chinese to address your siblings based on if they are older or younger than you:

Chinese	Pinyin Pronunciations	Literal translation
爸bà爸ba	bàba	Father
妈mā妈ma	māmā	Mother
哥gē哥ge	gēgē	Older Brother
弟dì弟di	dìdì	Younger Brother
姐jiě姐jie	jiějiě	Older Sister
妹mèi妹mei	mèimei	Younger Sister

For example you would call your younger brother 弟弟 (dìdì) and older sister 姐姐 (jiějiě).

How to address your in-laws in Chinese

If you have married into a Chinese family, being able to to address your in-laws property will allow you to gain respect, so memorise these before your wedding night:

English	Chinese	Pinyin Pronunciations
Husband’s Father	公gōng公gong	gōnggōng
Husband’s Mother	婆pó婆po	pópo
Wife’s Father	岳yuè父fù	yuèfù
Wife’s Mother	岳yuè母mǔ	yuèmǔ
Your older brother’s wife	嫂sǎo子zi	sǎozi
Your younger brother’s wife	弟dì妇fù	dìfù
Your older sister’s husband	姐jiě夫fu	jiěfū
Your younger sister’s husband	妹mèi夫fu	mèifū

How to say Grandma and Granddad in Chinese

The they way to address grandparents in Chinese depends if they are your maternal grandparents, that is your mothers parents, of paternal, that is your fathers parents. This is how to address your grandparents in Chinese:

English	Chinese	Pinyin Pronunciations	Notes
Grandmother on your father’s side	奶nǎi奶nai	nǎinai	Paternal Grandmother
Grandmother on your mother’s side	外wài婆pó	wàipó	Maternal Grandmother
Grandfather on your father’s side	爷yé爷ye	yéyé	Paternal Grandfather
Grandfather on your monther’s side	外wài公gōng	wàigōng	Maternal Grandfather

How to address your aunties and uncles in Chinese

The Chinese language as specific names for Auntie and Uncle which varies depending on if they are on your father of mothers side of the family, if they are male or female and also their relative age.

How to address Aunties and Uncles on your Fathers side

English	Chinese	Pinyin Pronunciations
Father’s elder brother	伯bó伯bo	bóbo
Father’s elder brother’s wife	伯bó母mǔ	bómǔ
Father’s younger brother	叔shū叔shu	shūshu
Father’s younger brother’s wife	婶shěn婶shen	shěnshen
Father’s elder sister	姑gū妈mā	gūmā
Father’s elder sister’s husband	姑gū夫fu	gūfū
Father’s younger sister	姑gū姑gu	gūgū
Father’s younger sister’s husband	姑gū夫fu	gūfū

How to address aunties and uncles on your Mothers side

English	Chinese	Pinyin Pronunciations
Mother’s younger or elder brother	舅jiù舅jiu	jiùjiu
Mother’s brother’s wife	舅jiù母mǔ	jiùmu
Mother’s elder sister	姨yí妈mā	yímā
Mother’s younger sister	阿ā姨yí	āyí
Mother’s sister’s husband	姨yí丈zhàng	yízhàng

How to address cousins in Chinese

English	Chinese	Pinyin Pronunciations
Father’s brother’s or sister’s son (if older than you)	堂táng兄xiōng	táng xiōng
Father’s brother’s or sister’s son (if younger than you)	堂táng弟dì	táng dì
Father’s brother’s or sister’s daughter (if older than you)	堂táng姐jiě	táng jiě
Father’s brother’s or sister’s daughter (if younger than you)	堂táng妹mèi	táng mèi
Mother’s brother’s or sister’s son (if older than you)	表biǎo哥gē	biǎo gē
Mother’s brother’s or sister’s son (if younger than you)	表biǎo弟dì	biǎo dì
Mother’s brother’s or sister’s daughter (if older than you)	表biǎo姐jiě	biǎojiě
Mother’s brother’s or sister’s daughter (if younger than you)	表biǎo妹mèi	biǎomèi

Summary

If you are overwhelmed by the complexity in addressing Aunties and Uncles in Chinese, don’t be. If you are dating or have married a Chinese, try to start small and remember how to address the closest family members first. If you want to give a good impression it would pay to spend some time memorising the appropriate way to call the family members. You can take some comfort in that many Chinese families in mainland China are small due to the one child policy, so you won’t need to remember all of these. If you meet someone you don’t know, you can generally get away referring to them as shūshu 叔叔 (Uncle) for men and āyí 阿姨 (Auntie) for woman, however this is a generic way to address strangers and you really should learn the proper form of address sooner rather than later.