±«Óãtv

A green shirt and khaki trousers.

How to say 'I wear' in Mandarin

When talking about what you wear in Mandarin, there are two phrases that can be used:

  • W¨¯ chu¨¡n - I am wearing, for clothes

  • W¨¯ d¨¤i - I am wearing, for accessories

A green shirt and khaki trousers.

Clothes in Mandarin

MandarinPinyinEnglish
m¨¢o y¨©jumper
d¨¤ y¨©coat
du¨£n q¨²nskirt
k¨´ zitrousers
³æ¨ª±ðshoes
w¨¤ zisocks
ch¨¨n sh¨¡nshirt
An orange jumper.

Did you know?

To say ¡®I wear a jumper¡¯ you would not simply say W¨¯ chu¨¡n zhe m¨¢o y¨© - you have missed out the Mandarin equivalent of ¡®a¡¯.

In Mandarin, measure words (often called ¡®classifiers¡¯) are used to classify the type of object being discussed.

Measure wordUse
y¨ª ji¨¤nFor sleeved clothing, eg coats, shirts, and jumpers
y¨¬ ti¨¢oFor narrow and long clothes, eg skirts and trousers
y¨¬ shu¨¡ngFor pairs, eg shoes and socks

So, to say ¡®I wear a jumper¡¯ in Mandarin, you would say W¨¯ chu¨¡n zhe y¨© ji¨¤n m¨¢o y¨©.

Accessories in Mandarin

MandarinPinyinEnglish
m¨¤o zihat
w¨¦i j¨©nscarf
y¨£n j¨¬ngglasses
xi¨¤ng li¨¤nnecklace

Did you know?

As with clothing, measure words are used for accessories.

Some are the same as for clothing, but there are additional ones too.

Measure wordUse
y¨¬ d¨«ngFor hats
y¨ª f¨´For glasses
y¨¬ ti¨¢oFor narrow and long accessories, eg scarfs and necklaces
A pair of sunglasses.

As with clothing, to say ¡®I wear glasses¡¯ you would need to include the measure word for 'a pair of':

W¨¯ d¨¤i zhe y¨ª f¨´ y¨£n j¨¬ng - I wear [a pair of] glasses

A pair of sunglasses.
Back to top

Bitesize Primary games. game

Play fun and educational primary games in science, maths, English, history, geography, art, computing and modern languages.

Bitesize Primary games
Back to top

More on Topics

Find out more by working through a topic