English

Like and dislike

Simple Mandarin Chinese phrase for beginners. To learn a language well, any language, we need to speak, listen and write more often. It is useless if you just accumulate your Chinese vocabulary lists and not use them at all.

Do you know what is like and dislike in Mandarin Chinese? If you don’t, you have come to the right place. Today, you will walk away knowing how to use, pronounce and communicate with your Chinese speaking friend using these two Chinese phrases.

Meaning and Components of like 喜欢

喜

Meaning:. like, love, enjoy, to be fond of, to like, to enjoy, to be happy

HSK Level : Level

Radical : 口

Component :壴

Stroke Count: 12

Pinyin: xǐ

Parts of speech: verb, adjective

欢(歡)

Meaning:. happy, pleased, glad, joy, enjoy

HSK Level : Level 1

Radical : 欠

Component :又

Stroke Count: 6

Pinyin: huān

Parts of speech: adjective, verb

How to express dislike in Mandarin Chinese

If 喜欢xǐhuān is like, what is dislike or don’t like in Chinese? Well, in Chinese, when you want to say something in the negative, you simply use the Chinese word 不(Bùno/don’t/dis-) before the Chinese phrase. Thus, dislike or don’t like will be 不喜欢 Bùxǐhuān. Simple? Yup!

Dialogue

Dialogue is important in learning a language. You need to activate your speaking and listening skills. It is one thing to know how to speak, it is another thing to understand what the other party is talking about or asking. It involves 2 way communication.

I saw a variety programme on TV, and this Korean guy went to Japan armed with a Japanese translation app. He spoke in Korean and the app helped him to translate into Japanese. He took a taxi and spoke to the taxi driver using the Japanese translation app. The taxi driver was impressed with his Japanese speaking skill and started having conversation with him. He started panicking as he could not understand a word of what he was saying. That goes to show, you not only need to know how to speak, but you definitely must also brush up on your listening skills.

Ok, that being said, let us see how the Chinese phrase 喜欢and 不喜欢are being used in the dialogue below

A: 你喜欢什么？

Nǐxǐhuān shén me?

What do you like?

B: 看电影，听音乐我都喜欢。

Kàn diàn yǐng, tīng yīn yuèwǒdūxǐhuān.

I like both movies and music.

A: 这首歌很好听，你喜欢吗？

Zhèshǒu gēhěn hǎo tīng, nǐxǐhuān ma?

This song is very good, do you like it？

B: 喜欢。可是，我不喜欢那位歌手。

Xǐhuān. Kěshì, wǒbùxǐhuān nàwèi gēshǒu.

Yes. However, I dislike / do not like the singer.

Traditional Chinese

A: 你喜歡什麼？

B: 看電影，聽音樂我都喜歡。

A: 這首歌很好聽，你喜歡嗎？

B: 喜歡。可是，我不喜歡那位歌手。

How to ask question using 喜欢or 不喜欢

In Chinese, when you want to ask a question, you just need to add 什么or 吗after the Chinese phrase. For example, when you want to ask the What question, you ask 喜欢什么？When you are asking do you, you ask 喜欢吗？Very simple isn’t  it. 5 minutes of your time and you have already learned 喜欢，不喜欢，什么and 吗.

Pyramid Drills

Expanding the Chinese words you know is very essential in learning the Chinese language. After you know that like and dislike in Mandarin Chinese are 喜欢, and 不喜欢, how do you actually use them in your conversation.

As you know, 喜欢is an adjective. You can place a Chinese verb after 喜欢to form a sentence. For example, in the dialogue, B said 喜欢看电影, 喜欢听音乐.

Let us expand base on these two sentences, so that you can carry on with the conversation with your friend. You can’t hold a conversation well if you don’t learn word expansion.

喜欢看电影

Xǐhuān kàn diàn yǐng

I like to watch movies.

喜欢看中国电影

xǐhuān kàn zhòng guódiàn yǐng

I like to watch Chinese movies.

喜欢看中国武打电影/ 喜欢看中国武打片

xǐhuān kàn zhòng guówǔdǎdiàn yǐng/ xǐhuān kàn zhòng guówǔdǎpiàn

I like to watch Chinese martial art (Kungfu) movies.

喜欢看李连杰演的中国武打片/ 电影

xǐhuān kàn lǐlián jiéyǎn de zhōng guówǔdǎpiàn

I like to watch Chinese kungfu movies by Jet Li.

Traditional Chinese

喜歡看電影

喜歡看中國電影

喜歡看中國武打電影/ 喜歡看中國武打片

喜歡看李連杰演的中國武打片

Base on the phrase 喜欢看电影, we have expanded the sentence by adding 中国, 武打and 李连杰演的. You can use other Chinese words or Chinese vocabularies to expand your Chinese phrases, so that the conversation can progress smoothly rather than one sided.

Why don’t you try to expand the other sentence 喜欢听音乐. Hope you can create more than 4 sentences. ^^

As for 不喜欢, how many layers can you create? Let us try.

不喜欢

Bùxǐhuān

dislike

不喜欢吃菜

Bùxǐhuān chīcài

Don’t like to eat vegetables

不喜欢吃芥兰菜

bùxǐhuān chījièlán cài

Don’t like to eat kale

不喜欢吃煮过头的芥兰菜

bùxǐhuān chīzhǔguòtóu de jièlán cài

Don’t like overcooked kale

We have created only 3 layers, why don’t you try to add on them?

We would love to see how many layers or sentences you have managed to create from 喜欢看and 喜欢听. Do email your sentences to us so that we can share with everyone.

Alternative to 喜欢

Instead of saying 喜欢to mean like, you can also use 爱Ài . For example, if you like to watch movies, instead of saying 我喜欢看电影，you can also say 我爱看电影. Therefore, the negative form will be 我不爱看电影.