Family Members in Chinese Worksheet

Family words come first

For children growing up outside China, family words are often the Chinese they hear most. Grandparents on video calls, cousins at festivals, a sticky note on the fridge: these are the characters a child is most likely to see and use. Writing them makes those everyday words feel like their own.

The family members on this page

爸爸 bàba: dad. 妈妈 māma: mum.
哥哥 gēge: older brother. 姐姐 jiějie: older sister.
弟弟 dìdi: younger brother. 妹妹 mèimei: younger sister.
爷爷 yéye and 奶奶 nǎinai: dad’s father and mother.
外公 wàigōng and 外婆 wàipó: mum’s father and mother (also 姥爷 and 姥姥 in northern China).
叔叔 shūshu: dad’s younger brother, also used for any friendly man of dad’s age.
阿姨 āyí: mum’s sister, also used for any friendly woman of mum’s age.
舅舅 jiùjiu: mum’s brother. 姑姑 gūgu: dad’s sister.

Chinese is more precise than English here. There is no single word for “brother”: you need to know whether he is older or younger. And grandparents have different names depending on which side of the family they are on. Children usually find this fun once they see it on paper.

Patterns to point out

Doubled words. Most family words repeat the character: 爸爸, 妈妈, 哥哥. Your child only needs to learn one character to write the whole word.
The 女 radical. 妈, 姐, 妹, 奶, 婆, 姨 and 姑 all have 女 (woman) on the left. Ask your child to find them all.
The 父 on top. 爸 and 爷 both have 父 (father) at the top. 父 looks like two hands holding a tool.
外 means outside. 外公 and 外婆 are literally “outside grandpa” and “outside grandma”, from the time when a married woman joined her husband’s family.

Activities that use the worksheet

Family tree. Draw a simple tree with photos or drawings and have your child label each person in Chinese.
Video-call surprise. Practise 外婆 or 奶奶 before the next call, then hold up the sheet. Grandparents love it.
Fridge labels. Write each person’s family title on a magnet or sticky note.
Birthday cards. Write 爸爸生日快乐 or 妈妈我爱你 inside a card. Add those extra characters to the box above.

Suggested settings

Start with Parents (爸妈), then Siblings. For very young children use large boxes, five tracing boxes and one row each. Older children can do the whole default set at once with three tracing boxes and two rows.

Questions parents ask

Our family says 姥姥, not 外婆. Can I use that?

Of course. Type any family words your family actually uses into the box. Regional and dialect terms are the ones your child will hear at home, so they are the best ones to practise.

How do I write my child’s name too?

Use the Chinese name tracing page, which is made for names and gives each character extra tracing rows.

How to print this worksheet

Pick a set with the buttons above, or type your own characters into the box.
Choose A4 or US Letter to match your printer paper.
Press Print or save as PDF. In the print window choose your printer, or “Save as PDF” to keep a copy.

Your settings are saved in the page address, so you can bookmark it or send the link to another parent or teacher and they will see the same worksheet.