HSK 2 · Pronouns

哥哥 gēge “older brother” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 哥哥 means

  1. older brother

Measure word 个 gè or 位 wèi · 一个哥哥 yí ge gēge

How to say 哥哥

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale哥gē1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own哥geneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

哥哥 in a sentence

  1. 我有个哥哥。

    Wǒ yǒu ge gēge.

    I have an older brother.

    Sentence #679442 from Tatoeba

  2. 我哥哥会开车。

    Wǒ gēge huì kāichē.

    My older brother knows how to drive.

    Sentence #973034 from Tatoeba

  3. 他跑得比他哥哥快。

    Tā pǎo de bǐ tā gēge kuài.

    He runs faster than his older brother.

    Sentence #884210 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 哥哥 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 哥 (gē) with each of its parts in a different colour
哥gēelder brother
  • 可may · kě
  • 可may · kě
The character 哥 (gē) with each of its parts in a different colour
哥gēelder brotherlight in 哥哥
  • 可may · kě
  • 可may · kě

How to write 哥哥

哥 10 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

哥哥 (gēge) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 哥哥 (gēge). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 哥哥

More words: People, Body & Health

服务员fúwùyuán · waiter男nán · male女nǚ · female妻子qīzi · wife姐姐jiějie · older sister弟弟dìdi · younger brother妹妹mèimei · younger sister孩子háizi · child

FAQs

哥哥 (gēge) means “older brother”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it gēge: gē with a 1st tone, then ge with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 哥哥 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 个 (gè) or 位 (wèi). For example, one older brother is 一个哥哥 (yí ge gēge).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type gege with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 哥哥 from the suggestions. Typing gege into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
哥哥 is an HSK 2 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.