HSK 6 · Education

母语 mǔyǔ “mother tongue” in Chinese

Said as múyǔ

Traditional 母語

What 母语 means

  1. mother tongue
  2. native language
  3. (linguistics) parent language

How to say 母语

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale母mǔ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale语yǔ3rd tone, dipping

Said as múyǔ. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

母语 in a sentence

  1. 你的母语是什么？

    Nǐ de mǔyǔ shì shénme?

    What’s your mother tongue?

    Sentence #4815174 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 法语不是我的母语。

    Fǎyǔ bú shì wǒ de mǔyǔ.

    French isn’t my mother tongue.

    Sentence #10190601 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 翻译帮助我们更好地了解自己的母语。

    Fānyì bāngzhù wǒmen gèng hǎo de liǎojiě zìjǐ de mǔyǔ.

    Translating helps us understand our own mother tongue better.

    Sentence #787220 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 母语 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 母 (mǔ) drawn as one shape
母mǔmother

母 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 语 (yǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
语yǔdialect
  • 讠speech form of 言 · yánMeaning part
  • 吾I · wúSound part

讠 hints at the meaning (speech); 吾 (wú) hints at the sound. Compare it with yǔ.

Memory aidWords 讠 that I 吾 say: language. 吾 (wú) also gives the sound.

How to write 母语

母 5 strokes · 语 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 母语

Words with 母

母亲mǔqīn · mother父母fùmǔ · parents字母zìmǔ · letter (of the alphabet)伯母bómǔ · aunt (wife of father’s elder brother)岳母yuèmǔ · mother-in-law (wife’s mother)

Words with 语

汉语Hànyǔ · Mandarin (Han language)外语wàiyǔ · foreign language词语cíyǔ · words and expressions语法yǔfǎ · grammar语言yǔyán · language成语chéngyǔ · idiom语气yǔqì · tone谜语míyǔ · riddle

More words: Education & Learning

考古kǎogǔ · archaeology科目kēmù · (school) subject课题kètí · research topic旷课kuàngkè · to skip class撇piě · left-falling stroke (丿)启蒙qǐméng · to enlighten示范shìfàn · to demonstrate师范shīfàn · teacher training

FAQs

母语 (mǔyǔ) means “mother tongue” or “native language”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it mǔyǔ: mǔ with a 3rd tone, then yǔ with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like múyǔ. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 母语 is written 母語. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type muyu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 母语 from the suggestions. Typing muyu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
母语 is an HSK 6 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.