n.
child; kid
小孩儿
child; kid
Colloquial term for a child or youngster (小 little + 孩 child + 儿 suffix); warm everyday northern usage.
Common Usage & Traps
- 一个小孩儿 — a child
- 问小孩儿 — to ask a child
- 小孩儿几岁 — how old is the child
- 小孩儿们 — the kids
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一个小孩儿们一个小孩儿 / 一群小孩儿们 already means 'more than one', so adding a number double-marks the plural and breaks.
Asking a kid's age, do you say 小孩儿几岁 or 小孩儿多大?
几岁 is for little kids; switch to 多大 once they hit their teens.
几岁 is what you ask a little kid, roughly under ten. Once someone is a teenager, Chinese speakers use 多大 instead. Asking 你几岁 to a 40-year-old sounds like you're babying them. It's not grammar that breaks here, it's the social read.
“问小孩儿，你几岁？” (To ask a child, say 'How old are you?')
“问小孩儿，你几岁？” (To ask a child, say 'How old are you?')
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Asking a 6-year-old | 你几岁？ | 你多大？ |
| Asking a coworker | 你多大？ | 你几岁？ |
| Asking a grandma | 您多大年纪？ | 你几岁？ |
What's the real difference between 小孩儿 and 孩子?
小孩儿 sounds casual and northern; 孩子 is the neutral, safe choice anywhere.
小孩儿 carries a spoken, northern flavor thanks to that 儿 ending. 孩子 works in writing, formal speech, and all over the south. In Beijing you'll hear 小孩儿 constantly, but typing it in a business email looks off. Same meaning, different room temperature.
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Northern casual chat | 小孩儿 | 孩子 (sounds a touch formal) |
| Writing or the south | 孩子 | 小孩儿 (fine, just northern) |
| Talking to a kid's face | 小朋友 | 小孩儿 (can feel distant) |
Can you say 小孩儿们 for 'the kids'?
小孩儿们 means 'the kids', but never put a number in front of it.
们 already signals 'more than one', so it stands in for the number itself. 小孩儿们 is fine when you mean the kids in general. The moment you give a specific count, drop 们 and let the number do the work. Stacking both is the classic over-plural mistake.
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| The kids (in general) | 小孩儿们 | 一个小孩儿们 |
| Three of them | 三个小孩儿 | 三个小孩儿们 |
Featured in Story Deep Dive
Follow how this word unfolds across the narrative arc of this graded story.
Before you read, think about the questions you ask every day. This simple poem shows you how to ask age, price, time, and more in friendly Chinese.
- Scene #1
问 小孩儿 ，你几岁？
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