Chinese Frequent Used Mandarin Words

Do you know how to say shirt, dress, pants, socks, and shoes in Chinese? In today’s article, we will learn some clothing expressions! Also, we will introduce some sentence patterns for you to construct sentences related to clothing. Let’s begin with the vocabulary.

衣服(yi1 fu0, clothes)

This is the general term we use to say “clothes”. The measure word for it is 件(jian4). For example:

• 丽丽有很多衣服。

  Li4 Li0 you3 hen3 duo1 yi1 fu0.

  Lily has many clothes.

• 他今天买了三件衣服。

  Ta1 jin1 tian1 mai3 le0 san1 jian4 yi1 fu0.

  He bought three pieces of clothes today.

衬衫(chen4 shan1, shirt)

The character 衬(chen4) means lining, it’s radical on the left is called the clothing radical. Many characters with this radical are related to clothing. 衫(shan1), on the other hand, means unlined upper garment. When put together, it means shirt. For example:

• 爸爸喜欢穿蓝衬衫。

  Ba4 ba0 xi3 huan0 chuan1 lan2 chen4 shan1.

  Father likes to wear blue shirts.

• 妈妈的衬衫都很漂亮。

  Ma1 ma0 de0 chen4 shan1 dou1 hen3 piao4 liang0.

  Mom’s blouses are all very pretty.

牛仔裤(niu2 zai3 ku4, jeans)

牛(niu2) is ox, 仔(zai3) means boy, when put together, they mean 牛仔(niu2 zai3, cowboy). 裤(ku4) means pants. Therefore, jeans in Chinese are called 牛仔裤(niu2 zai3 ku4). For example:

• 他有五条黑色的牛仔裤。

  Ta1 you3 wu3 tiao2 hei1 se4 de0 niu2 zai3 ku4.

  He has 5 black pants.

• 这家店卖的牛仔裤很好看。

  Zhe4 jia1 dian4 mai4 de0 niu2 zai3 ku4 hen3 hao3 kan4.

  The jeans sold in this store are all very nice.

校服(xiao4 fu2, uniform)

If you learned, you will remember that 校(xiao4) comes from the word 学校(xue2 xiao4) which means school. 服(fu2), on the other hand, comes from 衣服(yi1 fu0). Therefore, 校服 simply means school uniform. For example:

• 我们每天去学校要穿校服。

  wo3 men0 mei3 tian1 qu4 xue2 xiao4 yao4 chuan1 xiao4 fu2.

  Every day, we need to wear school uniforms to school.

外套(wai4 tao4, jacket)

外(wai4) in Chinese means outer or exterior, 套(tao4) means a casing or cover, together they mean jacket. For Example:

• 这件外套很保暖。

  Zhe4 jian4 wai4 tao4 hen3 bao3 nuan3.

  This jacket keeps one warm.

• 你看到我的外套了吗？

  ni3 kan4 dao4 wo3 de0 wai4 tao4 le0 ma0?

  Have you seen my jacket?

鞋(xie2, shoes) or 鞋子(xie2 zi0, shoes)

The radical on the left 革(ge3) means leather, which is the material used in many shoe designs. Sometimes, we add a suffix 子(zi0) behind without changing its meaning. How do we use it in a sentence? For example:

• 你等等我，我在穿鞋。

  Ni3 deng3 deng3 wo3, wo3 zai4 chuan1 xie2.

  Wait for me, I’m wearing my shoes.

• 我家里有很多双鞋子。

  Wo3 jia1 li3 you3 hen3 duo1 shuang1 xie2 zi0.

  I have many pairs of shoes at home.

Hope these words and sentences can help you conduct a small conversation on clothing in Chinese. Stay tuned to our blog for more Chinese learning posts. Do send us an email if you are interested in learning Mandarin Chinese or Business Chinese in Singapore! See you in the next post.