Chinese Language 中文 Pets ( 宠物 - chǒngwù )

To tell someone what pet you have in Mandarin, you can use  我有 Wǒ yǒu (I have).

Mandarin Pinyin English

 狗 gǒu dog

 猫 māo cat

 兔子 tù zi rabbit

 老鼠 lǎo shǔ rat

 仓鼠 cāng shǔ hamster

 鸟 niǎo bird

 鱼 yú fish

 马 mǎ horse

 蛇 shé snake

To say ‘I have a cat’ in Mandarin you would not simply say ‘ 我有猫 Wǒ yǒu gǒu’ - this misses out the ‘a’.

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

For animals, these are:

Measure Word Use

 一只 yī zhī For relatively small animals, eg dogs, cats and rabbits

 一头 yī tóu For larger animals, eg cows, pigs and elephants

 一匹 yī pǐ For horses and wolves specifically

 一条 yī tiáo For long, thin, wriggly or slithery animals, eg snakes and fish

So, to say ‘I have a cat’ in Mandarin you would say:

 我有一只猫 Wǒ yǒu yī zhī māo - I have a cat

When you want to say you have two of something in Mandarin, you don’t use  二 èr (two).

Instead, you use the Mandarin word  两 liǎng, for example:

 我有两只狗 Wǒ yǒu liǎng zhī gǒu - I have two dogs

This only applies to the number ‘two’ - all other numbers stay the same.

Talking about other animals in Mandarin:

As well as pets, here are some other animals you may want to talk about in Mandarin:

Mandarin Pinyin English

 猴子 hóu zi monkey

 狮子 shī zi lion

 大象 dà xiàng elephant

 牛 niú cow

 猪 zhū pig

 长颈鹿 cháng jǐng lù giraffe

 老虎 lǎo hǔ tiger

 羊 yáng sheep

Some animal names translate very literally from Mandarin into English, for example:

giraffe ( 长颈鹿 cháng jǐng lù) - long ( 长 cháng) neck ( 颈 jǐng) deer ( 鹿 lù)

kangaroo ( 袋鼠 dài shǔ) - pocket ( 袋 dài) rat ( 鼠 shǔ)

walrus ( 海象 hǎi xiàng) - sea ( 海 hǎi) elephant ( 象 xiàng)

More:

Nouns:

寵物 pet, house pet

寵兒 darling, favorite, pet, favourite

不悅 pet

Verbs:

寵愛 pet, dote, make a pet of

發脾气 get angry, ruffle, grizzle, pet, lose one's temper

Adjectives:

寵愛的 pet

親昵的 pet