Chinese Feminine
Learning the Chinese Feminine is very important because its structure is used in every day conversation. The more you practice the subject, the closer you get to mastering the Chinese language. But first we need to know what the role of Feminine is in the structure of the grammar in Chinese.
Chinese feminine refers to female qualities attributed specifically to women and girls or things considered feminine. The complement to feminine is masculine.
Grammar Tips:
The
differentiation of masculine and feminine in Chinese is rare. Of course if you
say it is a woman it is clear, but the spoken personal pronoun, ta, stands
for he, she and it, in both the subject and object form. Chinese names are
even difficult to tell masculine from feminine
Here are some examples:
| English Feminine | Chinese Feminine |
| Feminine | yīn xìng cí - 阴性词 |
| he is happy | tā;tuó hěn gāo xìng - 他很高兴 |
| she is happy | tā hěn gāo xìng - 她很高兴 |
| he is American | tā;tuó shì měi guó rén - 他是美国人 |
| she is American | tā shì měi guó rén - 她是美国人 |
| |
| man | nán rén - 男人 |
| woman | nǚ rén - 女人 |
| father | fù qīn - 父亲 |
| mother | mǔ qīn - 母亲 |
| brother | xiōng,dì - 兄,弟 |
| sister | jiě,mèi - 姐,妹 |
| uncle | shū shū - 叔叔 |
| aunt | gū gū - 姑姑 |
| bull | gōng niú - 公牛 |
| cow | nǎi niú - 奶牛 |
| boy | nán hái - 男孩 |
| girl | nǚ hái - 女孩 |
As you can see from the example above, the structure of the Feminine in Chinese has a logical pattern. Locate the Feminine above and see how it works with the rest of the sentence in Mandarin.
List of Feminine in Chinese
Below is a list of objects, can you determine whether they're feminine, masculine or plural in Chinese? Memorizing this table will also help you add very useful and important words to your Chinese vocabulary.
| English Vocabulary | Chinese Vocabulary |
| objects | wù jiàn - 物件 |
| bathroom | yù shì - 浴室 |
| bed | chuáng - 床 |
| bedroom | wò shì - 卧室 |
| ceiling | tiān huā bǎn - 天花板 |
| chair | yǐ zi - 椅子 |
| clothes | yī fú - 衣服 |
| coat | wài tào - 外套 |
| cup | bēi zi - 杯子 |
| desk | zhuō zi - 桌子 |
| dress | fú zhuāng - 服装 |
| floor | dì bǎn - 地板 |
| fork | chā - 叉 |
| furniture | jiā jù - 家具 |
| glass | bō lí - 玻璃 |
| hat | mào zi - 帽子 |
| house | fáng zi - 房子 |
| ink | mò shuǐ - 墨水 |
| jacket | jiā kè - 夹克 |
| kitchen | chú fáng - 厨房 |
| knife | dāo - 刀 |
| lamp | dēng - 灯 |
| letter | xìn - 信 |
| map | dì tú - 地图 |
| newspaper | bào zhǐ - 报纸 |
| notebook | bǐ jì běn - 笔记本 |
| pants | kù zi - 裤子 |
| paper | zhǐ - 纸 |
| pen | gāng bǐ - 钢笔 |
| pencil | qiān bǐ - 铅笔 |
| pharmacy | yào fáng - 药房 |
| picture | tú piān - 图片 |
| plate | pán zi - 盘子 |
| refrigerator | bīng xiāng - 冰箱 |
| restaurant | cān guǎn - 餐馆 |
| roof | wū dǐng - 屋顶 |
| room | fáng jiān - 房间 |
| rug | dì tǎn - 地毯 |
| scissors | jiǎn dāo - 剪刀 |
| shampoo | xǐ fā shuǐ - 洗发水 |
| shirt | chèn shān - 衬衫 |
| shoes | xié - 鞋 |
| soap | féi zào - 肥皂 |
| socks | wà zi - 袜子 |
| spoon | sháo zi - 勺子 |
| table | zhuō zi - 桌子 |
| toilet | cè suǒ - 厕所 |
| toothbrush | yá shuā - 牙刷 |
| toothpaste | yá gāo - 牙膏 |
| towel | máo jīn - 毛巾 |
| umbrella | yǔ sǎn - 雨伞 |
| underwear | nèi yī - 内衣 |
| wall | qiáng - 墙 |
| wallet | qián bāo - 钱包 |
| window | chuāng kǒu - 窗口 |
| telephone | diàn huà - 电话 |
Feminine and Masculine have a very important role in Chinese, therefore they need very special attention. Once you're done with the Mandarin Feminine, you might want to check the rest of our Chinese lessons here: Learn Chinese. Don't forget to bookmark this page.