FREE Chinese Pocket Guide | Learn Animals in Chinese

Ever wonder how to talk about your pet in Chinese, or your favorite animal in Chinese? Well, we’ve compiled a list of useful vocabulary for a variety of animals you may want to express in Chinese!

Due to popular demand from our Tricky Pinyin Pocket Guide series, we’ve also made another handy Yoyo Chinese Pocket Guide, for all of these animals! (Plus, it’s a great activity to keep busy during quarantine!)

Simply download the file, print it out, and start cutting and folding into a mini book! 

We also have this video tutorial to show you step by step how to make these pocket guides.

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Vocabulary:

动物 (dòng wù) - animal
猫 (māo) - cat
狗 (gǒu) - dog
鱼 (yú) - fish
鸟 (niǎo) - bird
牛 (niú) - cow
马 (mǎ) - horse
羊 (yáng) - sheep/goat
猪 (zhū) - pig
鸡 (jī) - chicken
兔子 (tù zi) - rabbit
鸭子 (yā zi) - duck
鹅 (é) - goose
老鼠 (lǎo shǔ) - mouse/rat
蛇 (shé) - snake
狼 (láng) - wolf
狐狸 (hú li) - fox
鹿 (lù) - deer
熊 (xióng) - bear
乌龟 (wū guī) - turtle
青蛙 (qīng wā) - frog
考拉 (kǎo lā) - koala 
袋鼠 (dài shǔ) - kangaroo
熊猫 (xióng māo) - panda
猴子 (hóu zi) - monkey
老虎 (lǎo hǔ) - tiger
狮子 (shī zi) - lion
大象 (dà xiàng) - elephant
河马 (hé mǎ) - hippo

Basic Measure Words for Most Animals:

只 (zhī) is used for general animals, like:
一只狗 (yì zhī gǒu) - “a dog”
一只猫 (yì zhī māo) - “a cat”

头 (tóu) is used for livestock, such as:
一头猪 (yì tóu zhū) - “a pig”
一头牛 (yì tóu niú) - “a cow”

匹 (pǐ) is used for horses:
一匹马 (yī pǐ mǎ) - “a horse”

条 (tiáo) is used for those animals that are long and skinny, like:
 一条鱼(yì tiáo yú) - “a fish”
一条蛇 (yì tiáo shé) - “a snake”

Useful Sentences:

我在家里养__狗__。(wǒ zài jiā lǐ yǎng _gǒu_) - “I am raising _a dog_ at home.”
我有___三只狗___。(wǒ yǒu _sān zhī gǒu_) - “I have _three dogs_.”
我最喜欢的动物是__。(wǒ zuì xǐ huan de dòng wù shì __) - “My favorite animal is ___.” 
我喜欢去动物园看__。(wǒ xǐ huan qù dòng wù yuán kàn __) - “I like to go to the zoo to see __.”

We hope you enjoy both the blog post and our Animal Pocket Guide! 

Be sure to also let us know in the comments below: What pets do YOU have, or what is YOUR favorite animal?

More Content for Learning Mandarin (Including Freebies!):

If you want to learn how to count in Chinese, be sure to check out this FREE lesson from our Beginner Conversational Course!

Want to learn one of the most common measure words in Chinese? Click here to check out the lesson. 

We also cover dogs and cats (and how to remember the Chinese names easily!) in this lesson video from the course.

By the way… Did you know!? 

Level 1 of our Beginner course is COMPLETELY free - including 45 lesson videos and all of the study tools that come with it, including flashcards, quizzes and more! 

It also serves as a complete pinyin and tones crash course, so you can start learning (or brush up on!) your Mandarin pronunciation!

Check out the first lesson here.