How to ask someone’s name and do self-introduction

The video focuses on self-introduction. In Chinese, we use the following question to ask someone’s full name.

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你叫什么名字？ (Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?) What’s your name?

If you want to ask this question with respect or at a formal occasion, you can say “请问你叫什么名字？ (Qǐngwèn nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?) May I ask what your name is?”.

To answer this question, you can just put your full name or first name after “我叫(Wǒ jiào)”. For example, 我叫张艳莉。(Wǒ jiào Zhāng Yànlì.)

If you want to inquire his or her name, you can simply replace “你(nǐ)” with “他(tā)(he;him)” or “她(tā)(she;her)”.

• 他叫什么名字？ (Tā jiào shénme míngzi?)
• 她叫什么名字？ (Tā jiào shénme míngzi?)
• 他叫李小龙。 (Tā jiào Lǐ Xiǎolóng.)
• 她叫邓丽君。 (Tā jiào Dèng Lìjūn.)

“李(Lǐ)” and “邓(Dèng)” are family names in Chinese. As you may notice, the given name comes after the family name.

Usually the given name has one or two characters and words with positive meanings, which are favored by the parents, such as “明(míng, bright)”, “诚(chéng, honesty)” and so on.

We are wondering whether you have a Chinese name or not. If not, please think about what meaning you would like to give to your Chinese name.