双胞胎
The English phrase "twins" is translated into Chinese as 双胞胎.
You use 双胞胎 to refer to twins. If you want to specify the gender of the twins, you can add 兄弟 (brothers) or 姐妹 (sisters) after the noun, such as in 双胞胎兄弟 for twin brothers.
What does it mean word for word?
The term 双胞胎 is composed of 双 (double/pair), 胞 (cell/embryo/sibling) and 胎 (fetus/embryo/womb), literally referring to a pair of siblings from the same womb.
How does it change in a sentence?
When counting twins, the measure word 对 (pair) is commonly used before the noun, forming the phrase 一对双胞胎 (a pair of twins).
Did you know?
- While 双胞胎 is the general term, the phrase 龙凤胎 (dragon-phoenix twins) is used specifically for a boy-girl pair of twins.
- In Chinese culture, the concept of twins is sometimes linked to the idea of 'double happiness', as the character 双 (double) appears in the traditional wedding symbol 囍.
- To describe 'identical twins', Chinese uses the term 同卵双胞胎, which literally means 'same-egg twins'.
Examples in context
- 玛丽怀了双胞胎。Mary is pregnant with twins.This sentence shows how to say someone is pregnant with 双胞胎.Tatoeba #5819707 by verdastelo9604, translation #5819682 by Hybrid
- 汉妮和南妮是双胞胎。Hanni and Nanni are twins.This sentence is used to state that two people are 双胞胎.Tatoeba #9965603 by GlossaMatik, translation #4397941 by ieflicca
- 这对双胞胎长得一模一样。Those twins look like two peas in a pod.This sentence describes how a pair of 双胞胎 look exactly alike.Tatoeba #2029400 by ydcok, translation #68012 by Zifre
- 我有一对双胞胎兄弟。I have a pair of twin brothers.
- 我们认识一对双胞胎兄弟姐妹。We know a pair of twin brothers and sisters.
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two friends are looking at a photo together.
- 佳怡 Jiayi你看，这张照片里的孩子是双胞胎吗？Nǐ kàn, zhè zhāng zhàopiàn lǐ de háizi shì shuāngbāotāi ma?Look, are the children in this photo twins?
- 浩然 Haoran是的，他们是一对双胞胎。Shì de, tāmen shì yí duì shuāngbāotāi.Yes, they are a pair of twins.
- 佳怡 Jiayi他们长得太像了，很难分辨。Tāmen zhǎng de tài xiàng le, hěn nán fēnbiàn.They look so similar, it's hard to tell them apart.
- 浩然 Haoran这就是双胞胎的特点。Zhè jiùshì shuāngbāotāi de tèdiǎn.That's the characteristic of twins.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
