n.
girlfriend
女朋友
Common Usage & Traps
- 有女朋友 — to have a girlfriend
- 我女朋友 — my girlfriend (的 dropped, everyday speech)
- 我的女朋友 — my girlfriend (full 的 form, slightly heavier)
- 找女朋友 — to look for a girlfriend
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女的朋友女朋友女的朋友 parses as 'a friend who is female', not a romantic partner. 女朋友 is one fixed word.
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女朋友，你吃了吗？小丽，你吃了吗？女朋友 is a label you use when talking about her, never a name you call her to her face.
Can I call a female classmate 女朋友?
女朋友 is romantic only. Say it about a female buddy and you just announced you are dating her.
女朋友 is one fixed word, not the sum of 女 plus 朋友. It means the person you are dating, and everyone within earshot hears exactly that. For a female friend, say 朋友, or 女性朋友 if the gender really matters. Calling a married woman 女朋友, even as a joke, also lands badly.
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Actual partner | 她是我女朋友 | 她是我女的朋友 |
| Female friend | 她是我朋友 | 她是我女朋友 |
| Gender matters | 女性朋友 / 女同学 | 女的朋友 |
When do I drop 的 — 我女朋友 or 我的女朋友?
Both are correct. With partners and family, dropping 的 is what people actually say.
的 spells out ownership, so 我的女朋友 is never wrong. With the people closest to you, Chinese treats them as almost part of you, so 的 quietly drops: 我女朋友, 我妈妈, 我老板. Names behave differently. Keep 的 after a name, or the phrase sounds unfinished. “那个女孩儿是小商，是小习，习有朋的女朋友。” (That girl is Xiao Shang — she's Xiao Xi, Xi Youpeng's girlfriend.) ── [《去上海》](/read/train-or-plane-to-shanghai#s1)
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Everyday talk | 我女朋友 | 我的女朋友 (fine, just heavier) |
| With a name | 小习的女朋友 | 小习女朋友 |
| Family words | 我妈妈 / 我妈 | 我的妈妈 (writing register) |
Featured in Story Deep Dive
Follow how this word unfolds across the narrative arc of this graded story.
Meet Xiao Shang, who is heading back to Shanghai. She compares two ways to travel and tells us why she prefers the slower one. This story helps you practice comparing transportation in simple Chinese.
- Scene #1
那个女孩儿是小商，是小习，习有朋的 女朋友 。
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