Home life is a big part of Chinese culture. People spend a lot of time at home, and home ownership is very important. Interestingly enough, the Chinese word for home (家 – jiā) can also be used for family – perhaps because the two go hand in hand. When you chat with people in China, whether you know them very well or not, they might very well ask you where you live, whether you rent or own, how many square meters your place is, how much your rent is, and so on. While some of these questions may seem taboo in Western culture, they’re perfectly alright in China. To help you chat about your home in Chinese, here’s some useful vocabulary to get started:

Welcome to my living room.

Rooms (房间 – fáng jiān)

Furniture (家具 – jiā jù)

Practice and Video

Now see if you can put some of this vocabulary to use by answering the following questions in Chinese:

你住在哪里?
nǐ zhù zài nǎ lǐ
Where do you live?

你的家有几个房间?
nǐ de jiā yǒu jǐ gè fáng jiān
How many rooms are in your home?

你的家是租的还是买的?
nǐ de jiā shì zū de hái shì mǎi de
Did you rent or buy your home?

多少钱一个月?
duō shǎo qián yī gè yuè
How much is it per month?

你的家里有什么家具?
nǐ de jiā li yǒu shén me jiā jù
What furniture is in your home?

Here’s a short video tour of my Beijing apartment where I use a lot of the vocabulary covered in this post. Give it a watch and then see if you could give a similar tour of your pad in Chinese!