--- title: Names and "how old are you?" — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Names and "how old are you?"», a lesson of the chinese street course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: On the first day at the park a girl asks you «nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?» (what's your name?). --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/) [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/) / Names and "how old are you?" # Names and "how old are you?" Lesson 5 of the chinese street course of Mova's primary school: 16 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/5-names-and-how-old/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/0/) — On the first day at the park a girl asks you «nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?» (what's your name?). - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/2/) — Chinese names put the family name first. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/3/) — Ming's full name is Wáng Míng: Wáng is the whole family's name, Míng is his own, and when his mum shouts «Wáng Míng!» across the flat, he is in trouble, just like in English. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/4/) — Grown-ups have their own rules: they ask each other «nín guì xìng?» (your honourable surname?), call younger friends Xiǎo Wáng (little Wang) and old mates Lǎo Lǐ (old Li), with warmth, not rudeness. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/5/) — Asking ages is different too. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/6/) — Kids ask «nǐ jǐ suì le?» but to a granny people say the very polite «nín duō dà niánjì le?», and in Chinese culture she may be proud to answer «bāshí le!» (eighty!). - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/7/) — nǐ jiào shénme míngzi? («nee JYOW SHUN-muh MING-dz») means what's your name?; kids ask kids, while grown-ups ask you, not the other way round. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/8/) — wǒ jiào ... («waw JYOW») means my name is ...; jiào falls, while jiǎo (foot) and the jiǎo in jiǎozi (dumplings) dip. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/9/) — nín guì xìng? («neen GWAY SHING») asks politely for someone's surname; you answer only wǒ xìng ..., because guì (honourable) is only for the other person. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/10/) — wǒ xìng Wáng («waw SHING WAHNG?») means my surname is Wang; xìng sounds like the xìng in gāoxìng (happy), and context tells them apart. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/13/) — wǒ jiǔ suì («waw JYO SWAY») means I'm nine; jiǔ (nine) dips, while jiù with a fall means just or then. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/14/) — nín duō dà niánjì le? is the very polite way to ask an old person's age; in Chinese culture it shows respectful interest. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/15/) — Xiǎo Wáng (little Wang) is a friendly name older people give to someone younger; a child never calls an adult Xiǎo anything. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/16/) — Lǎo Lǐ (old Li, said «láo lǐ» because of the two dips) is a warm name grown-ups use for a man their age or older; a child calls him Lǐ shūshu (Uncle Li). - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/17/) — Many British Chinese children have a Yīngwén míngzi (English name) at school and a Chinese name at home; it is kind to ask which they prefer. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/5-names-and-how-old/18/) — In Wáng Míng the family name Wáng comes first and the given name Míng second. - ← previous: [Yes and no — there is no single word](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/4-yes-and-no/) - next →: [Counting 1 to 10, on one hand](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/6-counting-one-to-ten/) - ↑ back to [Chinese street](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/)