HSK 3.0 Level 1 · Things

男朋友 nánpéngyou “boyfriend” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 男朋友 means

  1. boyfriend

How to say 男朋友

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale男nán2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale朋péng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own友youneutral tone, light and short

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

男朋友 in a sentence

  1. 那是她的男朋友。

    Nà shì tā de nánpéngyou.

    That’s her boyfriend.

    Sentence #8853885 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 你男朋友真帅！

    Nǐ nánpéngyou zhēn shuài!

    Your boyfriend is really handsome!

    Sentence #3537648 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 你的男朋友在哪里？

    Nǐ de nánpéngyou zài nǎlǐ?

    Where’s your boyfriend?

    Sentence #8934370 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 男朋友 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 男 (nán) with each of its parts in a different colour
男nánmale
  • 田field · tián
  • 力strength · lì

Memory aidStrength 力 in the field 田: a man.

The character 朋 (péng) with each of its parts in a different colour
朋péngfriend
  • 月moon · yuè
  • 月moon · yuè

Memory aidIn the oldest writing, two strings of shells side by side. Two 月 side by side are easy to picture as two friends.

The character 友 (yǒu) drawn as one shape
友yǒufriendlight in 男朋友

友 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidTwo hands 又 joined: friendship.

How to write 男朋友

男 7 strokes · 朋 8 strokes · 友 4 strokes

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

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

Words related to 男朋友

Words with 男

男nán · male男人nánrén · man男孩儿nánháir · boy男生nánshēng · male student

Words with 朋

朋友péngyou · friend女朋友nǚpéngyou · girlfriend小朋友xiǎopéngyǒu · child

Words with 友

朋友péngyou · friend女朋友nǚpéngyou · girlfriend小朋友xiǎopéngyǒu · child友谊yǒuyì · companionship友好yǒuhǎo · friendly

More words: Things & Objects

电话diànhuà · telephone女朋友nǚpéngyou · girlfriend事shì · matter小朋友xiǎopéngyǒu · child有点儿yǒudiǎnr · slightly银行卡yínhángkǎ · bank card图tú · picture油yóu · oil

FAQs

男朋友 (nánpéngyou) means “boyfriend”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word.
Say it nánpéngyou: nán with a 2nd tone, then péng with a 2nd tone, then you with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 男朋友 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type nanpengyou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 男朋友 from the suggestions. Typing nanpengyou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
男朋友 is an HSK 3.0 Level 1 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 1 word list. It is not on the older 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.