--- title: Grandparents, aunties and uncles — how families address elders — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Grandparents, aunties and uncles — how families address elders», a lesson of the chinese street course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: When Ming's grandad comes in, Ming's mum whispers «kuài jiào yéye!» (quick, say hello to Grandad!). --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Chinese street](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/) / Grandparents, aunties and uncles — how… # Grandparents, aunties and uncles — how families address elders Lesson 10 of the chinese street course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/0/) — When Ming's grandad comes in, Ming's mum whispers «kuài jiào yéye!» (quick, say hello to Grandad!). - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/1/) — In Chinese families you greet each elder by their title, out loud: «yéye hǎo!». - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/2/) — A silent child looks rude, even if he is only shy. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/3/) — There are separate words for each side of the family. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/4/) — Dad's parents are yéye and nǎinai; in the north, mum's parents are lǎoye and lǎolao (in the south, wàigōng and wàipó). - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/5/) — Dad's sister is gūgu, mum's brother jiùjiu, mum's sister yímā, dad's older brother bóbo. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/6/) — The titles stretch outside the family: any man about your dad's age is shūshu (uncle), any woman about your mum's age is āyí (auntie), any old man in the park yéye. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/7/) — You never call an adult by his first name. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/8/) — At New Year all the qīnqi (relatives) come, including people nobody can quite explain, and Ming's mum whispers the right title to say. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/9/) — yéye («YEH?-yeh») is grandad on dad's side; children also call any old man yéye. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/10/) — nǎinai («NIGH-nigh», the first dipping) is granny on dad's side, and any old lady to a child; children never call her by her name. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/11/) — lǎoye («LAOW-yeh») is grandad on mum's side in the north; in the south he is wàigōng, where wài means outside, from an old custom families today do not mean unkindly. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/12/) — lǎolao («LAOW-laow») is granny on mum's side in the north (wàipó in the south); mixing her up with nǎinai makes everyone laugh. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/13/) — shūshu («SHOO-shoo») is uncle and any man around dad's age; Lǐ shūshu is how a child says Mr Li. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/17/) — jiùjiu («JYO-jyo») is mum's brother, in many families a special, spoiling uncle. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/18/) — yímā («EE?-mah») is mum's sister; aunties are split by side: gūgu on dad's side, yímā on mum's. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/10-grandparents-aunties-uncles/19/) — kuài jiào yéye («KWIGH JYOW YEH?-yeh») means quick, greet Grandad; jiào rén means greeting people by their titles, and the answer is yéye hǎo! - ← previous: [Family: mum, dad, brothers and sisters](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/9-family-mum-dad-brothers-sisters/) - next →: [Dinner at the friend's house](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/11-dinner-at-the-friends-house/) - ↑ back to [Chinese street](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/)