Textbook · HSK 1
Who's in Your Family? 你家有谁
玛丽 shows 李明 a family photo and you learn to say who is in your family and whose is whose: 有 for what you have, 谁 for who someone is, and 的 for owning it.
玛丽 wants to show 李明 who is in her family, so she opens a photo on her phone. Read the conversation once, straight through, before we take it apart. Watch for the same move from chapter one: each person answers a little, then asks a little back. This time they are trading three new tools. 有 says what a family has in it, 谁 asks which person you are looking at, and 的 sticks an owner onto the thing they own, the way English adds an apostrophe-s. Ten words, one photo, one family.
note
家 is one word for both 'home' and 'family.' A photo of the people at home is a photo of the 家.
ⓘ 有 says what is there
你家有谁 is literally 'your family has who.' 有 is how you say something exists or belongs to you, and 你家有谁 asks who your family contains. It is also the title of this chapter: 你家有谁.
ⓘ 和 joins the last two things in a list
和 sits right before the final item in a list, like the English 'and': 爸爸、妈妈和我. The small pause marks 、 do the joining earlier in the list, and 和 closes it off.
note
李明 comments on what he sees and turns it into a question with 吗, the same yes/no word from chapter one. Answer a little, ask a little.
ⓘ 的 ties an owner to what is theirs
妈妈的先生 means 'Mom's husband.' 的 clips onto the owner 妈妈 and points at the thing owned, 先生. The shape is always owner + 的 + thing. This is the 的 you will use for every 'my,' 'your,' and 'whose' from now on.
ⓘ 谁 asks which person
Point at anyone and ask 那是谁？, 'that is who?' 谁 sits in the exact spot where the answer will land, so 那是谁 turns into 那是我妈妈 with nothing else moving.
note
玛丽 names the two children by their role in the family, 女儿 and 儿子, rather than by 'sister' or 'brother.'
note
李明 keeps guessing and checking instead of waiting to be told. That guessing out loud is what keeps the turn bouncing.
ⓘ 呢 hands the same question back
玛丽 answered, then bounced the whole question back with one syllable: 你家有谁呢？ It is the 呢 move from chapter one, now carrying a bigger question. Answer, then ask 呢, and the other person has to talk.
note
李明 names his own place in the family the way 玛丽 did: not 'brother,' just 儿子, the son of the house.
Look at how the photo tour runs. 玛丽 never just recites a list and stops. She says 我家有爸爸、妈妈和我, and when 李明 asks 那是谁？ she answers and then fires 你家有谁呢？ straight back at him. 李明 does the same thing: he guesses 女儿是你吗？ instead of sitting there. Both of them are doing the comment-then-question move, and it is why a photo turns into a real conversation instead of a slideshow. The engine underneath it all is three small words: 有 to say what the 家 holds, 谁 to ask which person, and 的 to say whose is whose.
Why 我妈妈 usually drops the 的 that 妈妈的先生 keeps
You just met 的 in 妈妈的先生, so here is the catch. With family and other people very close to you, Chinese usually drops the 的. 玛丽 says 我妈妈 and 我爸爸, not 我的妈妈 or 我的爸爸, and both are correct. The rule of thumb: for a person who is basically part of you, your 妈妈, your 家, your close friend, the 的 tends to fall away. For an ordinary owned thing, or when you want to be careful and clear, the 的 comes back. So 妈妈的先生 keeps its 的 because it is spelling out a relationship between two people, but 我妈妈 lets it go because nothing about 'my mom' needs spelling out. Do not stress over this early. Say the 的 every time and you will always be understood; drop it with 爸爸 and 妈妈 and you will sound a little more like home.
That one character carries the whole chapter. 家 is a roof with a pig underneath, and it means the place your family lives and the family itself at once. When 玛丽 says 这是我家, she means both. And once you can name the 家, you fill it with 有: 我家有爸爸、妈妈和我. Whatever is in the household, 有 puts it there.
先生 means husband here as often as it means Mr.
Most beginners meet 先生 as 'Mr.,' the polite title you stick after a surname, like 王先生 for Mr. Wang. That is real and useful. But 玛丽 uses 先生 a second way that is just as common: 爸爸是妈妈的先生 means 'Dad is Mom's husband.' In everyday speech 先生 is the ordinary word a woman uses for her own husband, the way 太太 is the word for a wife. So 先生 does double duty. After a surname it is a respectful 'Mr.'; after 的 with a woman as the owner, 妈妈的先生, it is simply 'her husband.' Context tells you which, and here the family photo makes it obvious. One word, two everyday jobs, and 玛丽 just used the warmer one.
Place your bets. You want to ask 'who is in your family?' You already have 你家 for 'your family.' Which single word says 'has' or 'there is,' and which word asks 'who'? Picture the whole question, then reveal.
有 and 谁. Put them together as 你家有谁？, literally 'your family has who?' 有 says what is there and 谁 asks which person, and neither word moves out of its spot.
Two of the new words come as a pair. 女儿 is a daughter and 儿子 is a son, and a family photo is mostly a way to point at them: 这是女儿, 那是儿子. Notice that Chinese names the role in the family rather than reaching for 'sister' or 'brother.' 玛丽 is her parents' 女儿, and 李明 is his parents' 儿子, and that is all either of them needs to say. Then, to make any of it possessive, you reach for 的: 妈妈的女儿, 爸爸的儿子, 李明的家. Owner, 的, thing.
女儿 and 儿子 both end in the 'child' character
Look at the second half of each word. 女儿 ends in 儿 and 儿子 both open and close on the idea of a child: 儿 by itself is 'child,' 女 is 'woman,' and 子 is another old word for a child or small one. So 女儿 reads almost like 'woman-child,' a daughter, and 儿子 reads like 'child-one,' a son. You are not memorizing two random words. You are seeing 儿 and 子, the two little child-pieces, snap together in different orders. Once you can hear 儿子 and 女儿 as built things rather than blobs, the rest of the family words in later chapters click in the same way.
Bet first. 李明 points at the photo and wants to ask 'who's that?' He already has 那是 for 'that is.' Which one word finishes the question by asking which person? Guess, then reveal.
谁. Say 那是谁？, 'that is who?' The answer 那是我妈妈 drops right into the spot where 谁 was standing. Same frame, question becomes answer.
Last bet. You want to say 'Mom's husband.' You have 妈妈 for 'Mom' and 先生 for 'husband.' Which single character goes between them to make the second one belong to the first? Predict, then reveal.
的. Say 妈妈的先生: owner 妈妈, then 的, then the thing owned, 先生. That is the shape for every 'whose is whose,' and with close family like 我爸爸 you can even let the 的 fall away.
That is the whole chapter. Ten words, and you can open a family photo and say who is in it and whose is whose.
- 有 (yǒu): to have, there is
- 谁 (shéi): who, which person
- 爸爸 (bà ba): dad, father
- 妈妈 (mā ma): mom, mother
- 家 (jiā): home, and family, the same word for both
- 女儿 (nǚ ér): daughter
- 儿子 (ér zi): son
- 的 (de): the little word that ties an owner to what they own, like 's
- 和 (hé): and, joining the last two things in a list
- 先生 (xiān sheng): Mr., or a woman's husband
Say 你家有谁, answer with a little 我家有..., then bounce it back with 呢. That answer-then-ask habit, now carrying 有, 谁, and 的, is the thing to take into the next chapter. Practice it in the study room, then go ask someone who is in their family.