A Step-by-Step Guide to Saying Dad in Chinese

Family relations are important in China, and traditionally, the father is the head of the household. There are many ways of saying father or dad in Chinese, but the most colloquial way is the focus of this article.   Chinese Characters çˆ ¸Ã§Ë† ¸ ( bà  ba)  means dad, or father, in Chinese. It is an informal term. The character is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese. Sometimes,  Ã§Ë† ¸Ã§Ë† ¸ is colloquially shortened to just  Ã§Ë† ¸. Pronunciation The pinyin for çˆ ¸ is bà  , which means the character is pronounced in the 4th tone. But when saying çˆ ¸Ã§Ë† ¸, the second çˆ ¸ is unaccented. Thus in terms of tone numbers, çˆ ¸Ã§Ë† ¸ can also be written as ba4 ba.   Other Terms for "Dad" As mentioned earlier, there are other ways to say dad in Chinese depending on a degree of formality and region. Here are a few examples: çˆ ¶Ã¤ º ² (fà ¹qÄ «n): father, a more formal term çˆ ¹ (diÄ“): dad, also informal and a regional term   Sentence Examples UsingBà  ba WÇ’ bà   shà ¬ yÄ «shÄ“ng.我çˆ ¸Ã¦Ëœ ¯Ã©â€  «Ã§â€Å¸Ã£â‚¬â€š(traditional Chinese)我çˆ ¸Ã¦Ëœ ¯Ã¥Å' »Ã§â€Å¸Ã£â‚¬â€š(simplified Chinese)My dad is a doctor. TÄ  shà ¬ wÇ’ bà  ba.ä »â€"æ˜ ¯Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã§Ë† ¸Ã§Ë† ¸He is my father. Regarding this last sentence, note that when you are saying my father, my mother and so on, you normally dont add çš„ to indicate familiarity, ie: ä »â€"æ˜ ¯Ã¦Ë†â€˜Ã§Å¡â€žÃ§Ë† ¸Ã§Ë† ¸. Its not technically wrong, but its also not usually said amongst native speakers.