家
home; family
HSK level
- Pinyin
- jiā
- Part of speech
- noun
- Level
- HSK 1
- Strokes
- 10
- Register
- neutral
- Measure word
- 个 / 家
- In episodes
- 2
Stroke order for 家
家 is written with 10 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
What does 家 mean?
家 (jiā) is one of the most semantically dense words in HSK 1 — it covers both 'home' (the physical place where you live) and 'family' (the people who live there), and English splits these into two words.
Context tells which meaning is active: 回家 (huí jiā, 'go home') refers to the place; 我家有四个人 (my family has four people) refers to the people. 家 also functions as a noun suffix meaning 'specialist': 作家 (writer), 画家 (painter), 科学家 (scientist).
And it acts as a measure word for businesses and establishments: 一家饭馆 (a restaurant), 一家公司 (a company). For Mandarin learners the key shift from English is that 'my home' and 'my family' are often the same word in Chinese, and you rarely hear the equivalent of 'house' (房子) when 'home' is meant — Chinese defaults to 家.
Memory hook: The character 家 shows a pig (豕) under a roof (宀): in ancient China, owning livestock under your roof meant you had a home.
Hear 家 in real episodes
家 appears in 2 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
Greenland 人还住在自己的家。
The people of Greenland still live in their own homes.
Greenland Deal Unsigned; Sovereignty Stays
今天，你在家。
Today, you are at home.
Dallas Trash Trucks Give Homes AI Blight Scores
Example sentences
我要回家。
Wǒ yào huí jiā.
I want to go home.
spoken
我家有五个人。
Wǒ jiā yǒu wǔ ge rén.
There are five people in my family.
neutral
他不在家。
Tā bú zài jiā.
He's not at home.
spoken
我们家在北京。
Wǒmen jiā zài Běijīng.
Our home is in Beijing.
neutral
Common phrases with 家
Synonyms
家庭 specifically means 'family' (the unit/structure) and is more formal — used in surveys, official forms, and writing. 家 is the everyday word that covers both home and family.
房子 means 'house / building' — the physical structure as real estate. 家 is where you live emotionally and socially. 'I bought a house' = 我买了一个房子 (the building); 'I'm going home' = 我回家 (the place that's mine).
Don't confuse 家 with
FAQ
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 家 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
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