男 nán — male, man’s

Meanings

1. 1

   male, man’s

   Male. It works as a modifier rather than a free noun: 男人 a man, 男孩子 a boy, 男朋友 a boyfriend. On its own it needs 的 — 他是男的.

   adjective

Character breakdown

• 男

  nán (second tone, rising)

  man, male

  7 strokes⿱田力Radical 田

Example sentences

• 那个男孩子是我弟弟。/那個男孩子是我弟弟。Nàge (fourth tone, falling) nán (second tone, rising) háizi (second tone, rising) shì (fourth tone, falling) wǒ (third tone, dipping) dìdi. (fourth tone, falling)···

  That boy is my younger brother.

• 他是我的男朋友。Tā (first tone, high and level) shì (fourth tone, falling) wǒ (third tone, dipping) de (neutral tone) nán (second tone, rising) péngyou. (second tone, rising)···

  He’s my boyfriend.

Common mistakes

• Not quite他是男。

  Correct他是男的。

  男 modifies a noun; it cannot stand alone as the complement of 是. Either name the noun (他是男人) or add 的 (他是男的).

Similar words

Words containing 男

• 男人nánrén (second tone, rising)man, adult male