A great way to improve your Chinese is by talking about your hobbies (爱好 Ài hào). It’s more fun talking about what you like to do in your spare time than what you have to do at work or school. Plus, finding people who share the same hobbies as you gives you the chance to make new friends and have even more opportunities to practice speaking. In this post I’ll help you gain the confidence you need for talking about hobbies in Chinese.

我的爱好是旅行 (My hobby is traveling) 

Hobbies Vocabulary List

To get started, here’s a list of 25 vocabulary words for some typical hobbies. You can easily copy and paste it or even print it to study from:

Looking at this list of hobbies, you may notice a few things. For one, the Chinese words for “play basketball” and “play football” are different. For basketball, you use the verb 打. This is used for sports that you play with your hands, so you can also use it for ping pong, volleyball, tennis, and so on. Football uses the verb 踢 as you play it with your feet.

You’ll also notice that the verbs for “play guitar” and “play violin” are different. For guitar, you use 弹, while for the violin you use 拉. Which verb you use depends on the instrument and how you play it. You can use 弹 for instruments that you pluck or play, like the guitar or piano. Instruments that you use a bow for, like the violin or cello, use the verb 拉.

我们喜欢出去吃饭 (We like going out to eat) 

Asking and Answering About Hobbies

Now that you’ve got the vocabulary for some common hobbies, let’s learn how to ask and answer questions about them. Here are a few ways to do just that:

你的爱好是什么？
Nǐ de ài hào shì shén me?
What are your hobbies?

我的爱好是…
Wǒ de ài hào shì…
My hobbies are…

你喜欢做什么？
Nǐ xǐ huān zuò shén me?
What do you like to do?

我喜欢…
Wǒ xǐ huān…
I like…

你的兴趣是什么？
Nǐ de xìng qù shì shén me?
What are your interests?

我的兴趣是…
Wǒ de xìng qù shì…
My interests are…

There’s another useful vocabulary word for you, as 兴趣 (interest) is another way to talk about things you like doing. Here are a few examples based on my own hobbies:

我的爱好是旅行，听音乐，和做运动。
Wǒ de ài hào shì lǚ xíng, tīng yīn yuè, hé zuò yùn dòng
My hobbies are traveling, listening to music, and doing exercise.

我喜欢弹吉他和打篮球。
wǒ xǐ huān tán jí tā hé dǎ lán qiú
I like playing guitar and basketball.

我的兴趣是摄影而且写博客。
wǒ de xìng qù shì shè yǐng ér qiě xiě bó kè
My interests are photography and writing blogs.

You can also check out this post I wrote a few years ago about my hobbies for more reading practice. Now see if you can use the vocabulary list above and these sentence patterns to practice describing your own hobbies.

我的兴趣是摄影 (My interest is photography) Photo taken and used with permission from Sasha Savinov.

Follow-Up Questions

In order to become more fluent, you’ll want to be able to continue the conversation. That’s why it’s good to have some follow-up questions ready. Here are a few examples:

你多久踢一次足球？
Nǐ duō jiǔ tī yī cì zú qiú?
How often do you play football?

我每个周末都踢足球。
Wǒ měi gè zhōu mò dōu tī zú qiú.
I play football every weekend.

你去哪里跳舞？
Nǐ qù nǎ lǐ tiào wǔ?
Where do you go dancing?

我常常去酒吧跳舞。
Wǒ cháng cháng qù jiǔ bā tiào wǔ
I often go to bars to dance.

你跟谁看电影？
Nǐ gēn shéi kàn diàn yǐng?
Who do you watch movies with?

我跟我的朋友们看电影。
Wǒ gēn wǒ de péng yǒu men kàn diàn yǐng
I watch movies with my friends.

你什么时候上网？
Nǐ shén me shí hòu shàng wǎng?
When do you go online?

我晚上的时候上网。
Wǒ wǎn shàng de shí hòu shàng wǎng
I go online at night.

Hopefully this post helps you feel more comfortable talking about your hobbies in Chinese. Feel free to leave a comment below and let us know what yours are!