Mandarin: Clothes and accessories

When talking about what you wear in Mandarin, there are two phrases that can be used:

• 我穿 Wǒ chuān - I am wearing, for clothes

• 我戴 Wǒ dài - I am wearing, for accessories

Did you know?

To say ‘I wear a jumper’ you would not simply say 我穿毛衣 Wǒ chuān máo yī - you have missed out the Mandarin equivalent of ‘a’.

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

So, to say ‘I wear a jumper’ in Mandarin, you would say 我穿一件毛衣 Wǒ chuān yī jiàn máo yī.

Did you know?

As with clothing, measure words are used for accessories.

Some are the same as for clothing, but there are additional ones too.

As with clothing, to say ‘I wear glasses’ you would need to include the measure word for 'a pair of':

我戴一副眼镜 Wǒ dài yí fù yǎn jìng - I wear [a pair of] glasses

Now you've learnt how to talk about clothing in Mandarin, let's put it into a conversation!

(Finlay and Evie are talking to a stallholder who is selling clothes)

Finlay: (pointing) 看，蓝色的大衣.

Kàn, lán sè de dàyī.

Look, blue coats.

Evie: 黑色的裤子.

Hēi sè de kùzi.

Black trousers.

Finlay: 黄色的袜子.

Huáng sè de wàzi.

Yellow socks.

Evie: (to stallholder) 请问这是什么?

Qǐngwèn, zhè shì shénme?

Excuse me, what’s this?

Stallholder: 这是红色的衬衫.

Zhè shì hóng sè de chènshān.

This is a red shirt.

Finlay: 我喜欢红色的衬衫.

Wǒ xǐhuān hóng sè de chènshān.

I like red shirts.

Stallholder: (to Evie) 你喜欢红色的衬衫吗?

Nǐ xǐhuān hóng sè de chènshān ma？

Do you like red shirts?

Evie: (pointing to a green shirt) 我不喜欢红色的衬衫， 我喜欢绿色的衬衫.

Wǒ bù xǐhuān hóng sè de chènshān, wǒ xǐhuān lǜ sè de chènshān.

I don’t like red shirts, I like green shirts.

Take your learning further

Learn how to describe the colour of clothes using our guide Mandarin: Colours.