Introducing people in Chinese – Free Beginner’s Chinese Course – Lesson 5

In this lesson we will learn how to introduce friends and family in Chinese.

Previous Lesson Review

Before we begin, please be sure to review the previous lessons:

• Lesson 1: “Hello”
• Lesson 2: Introducing yourself
• Lesson 3: Where are you from?
• Lesson 4: Friends and Family in Chinese

How to introduce someone in Chinese

To introduce someone in Chinese you simply say “this is” 这zhè是shì (zhè shì) followed by whomever you are introducing.

这zhè是shì。.。.。.
zhè shì
This is…

If were introducing Mary we would say:

这zhè是shìMMaarryy
zhè shì Mary
This is Mary

To break down this phrase:

这zhè (zhè)	是shì (shì)
zhè	shì
This	is

In addition to remembering “this is” 这zhè是shì (zhè shì) as a very useful phrase, you should also try to remember the individual characters “this“ 这zhè (zhè) and ”is” 是shì (shì)

How to ask who someone is in Chinese

To ask who someone is in Chinese you would simply ask “this is who?” 这zhè是shì谁shéi？? (zhè shì shéi?).

这zhè是shì谁shéi？?
zhè shì shéi?
This is who?

谁shéi (shéi) is the Chinese word for “who” and is worth remembering as a piece of very useful vocabulary. Here is a breakdown of the phrase “this is who?” 这zhè是shì谁shéi (zhè shì shéi):

这zhè (zhè)	是shì (shì)	谁shéi (shéi)
zhè	shì	shéi
This	is	who

With this we can have a simple conversation

这zhè是shì谁shéi？?
zhè shì shéi?
This is who?

这zhè是shìMMaarryy
zhè shì Mary
This is Mary

If you recall from our last lesson, the way to say “Mary in Chinese is 玛Mǎ丽lì (Mǎ​lì), thus you can say:

这zhè是shì玛Mǎ丽lì
zhè shì mǎlì
This is Mary

How to introduce your friends, family and colleagues in Chinese

How to say my and yours in Chinese

Before we can introduce people we need to learn how to say “my”, as in “my mother”, “my husband” or “my colleague”.

The Chinese word for “my” and “your” in Chinese are made up of the characters for “me” 我wǒ (wǒ) or 你nǐ (nǐ) “you” plus the 的de (de) character. The 的 character is a special character used to indicate possession, and is roughly the equivalent of an apostrophe s in English.

我wǒ的de (wǒ de)
wǒ de
My

你nǐ的de (nǐ de)
nǐ de
Your

If you’d like to know more about “de” check out our post on how to use ‘de’ in Chinese – 的, 地 and 得

Building on this, we can now say “this is my…”

这zhè是shì我wǒ的de。.。.。.
zhè shì wǒ de
This is my…

Now we can pair this up with the words for friends, family and colleagues, we learned in the previous lesson, for example:

这zhè是shì我wǒ的de同tóng事shì
zhè shì wǒ de
This is my colleague

这zhè是shì我wǒ的de朋péng友you
zhè shì wǒ de
This is my friend

这zhè是shì我wǒ的de妈mā妈ma
zhè shì wǒ de māmā
This is my mother

Here is a break down of “this is my mother” 这zhè是shì我wǒ的de妈mā妈ma (zhè shì wǒ de mā​ma) for clarity:

这zhè (zhè)	是shì (shì)	我wǒ的de (wǒ de)	妈mā妈ma (mā​ma)
zhè	shì	wǒ de	māmā
this	is	my	mother

How to politely introduce someone in Chinese

If you would like to be more polite, you can instead say saying “allow me to introduce”

让ràng我wǒ介jiè绍shào。.。.。.
ràng wǒ jièshào
Allow me to introduce…

We can pair this phrase with what we’ve learned before, for example:

让ràng我wǒ介jiè绍shào我wǒ的de爸bà爸ba
ràng wǒ jièshào wǒ de bàba
Allow me to introduce my Dad

让ràng我wǒ介jiè绍shàoMMiikkee
ràng wǒ jièshào Mike
Allow me to introduce Mike

让ràng我wǒ介jiè绍shào我wǒ的de朋péng友you
ràng wǒ jièshào wǒ de péngyǒu
Allow me to introduce my Mum

Here is a break down of the last phrase for clarity:

让ràng (ràng)	我wǒ (wǒ)	介jiè绍shào (jiè​shào)	我wǒ的de (wǒ de)	朋péng友you (péng​you)
ràng	wǒ	jièshào	wǒ de	péngyǒu
allow	me (to)	introduce	my	friend

Review

This is the key vocabulary and phrases learned in this lesson.

Lesson key vocabulary

English	Chinese (Pinyin)
this	这zhè (zhè)
is	是shì (shì)
who	谁shéi (shéi)
my	我wǒ的de (wǒ de)
allow	让ràng (ràng)
introduce	介jiè绍shào (jiè​shào)

Lesson key phrases

English	Chinese (Pinyin)
this is	这zhè是shì。.。.。. (zhè shì...)
this is who?	这zhè是shì谁shéi？? (zhè shì shéi?)
this is my…	这zhè是shì我wǒ的de (zhè shì wǒ de)
allow me to introduce…	让ràng我wǒ介jiè绍shào。.。.。. (ràng wǒ jiè​shào...)

Conclusion

In this lesson you’ve learned how to introduce people and ask who someone is. Key points to remember are:

• There are different Chinese words for elder and younger siblings.
• 的de (de) is the characer in Chinese that indicates possession, so for example it changes:
  • me 我wǒ (wǒ) into my 我wǒ的de (wǒ de)
  • you 你nǐ (nǐ) into your 你nǐ的de (nǐ de)
• 谁shéi (shéi) is the Chinese character that means “who”. As a bonus, you could add 的de (de) to 谁shéi (shéi) to create the word “whose” 谁shéi的de (shéi de) as in “whose friend is this?” 这zhè是shì谁shéi的de朋péng友you？? (zhè shì shéi de péng​you?)

Check back for next Beginners lesson, which we’ll release soon. In the meantime, why not check out some of our other Beginners posts?