How to Say “My grandson” in Chinese
Relationships and family · HSK 3
"My grandson" in Chinese is 我的孙子 (wǒ de sūn zi). Chinese distinguishes grandchildren by which side of the family they come from. 孙子 (sūn zi) specifically means your son's son; your paternal grandson.
Primary translation
我的孙子
wǒ de sūn zi
Traditional: 我的孫子
Variants by register
Formal
我的孙子
wǒ de sūn zi
Casual
我孙子
wǒ sūn zi
When to use it
Chinese distinguishes grandchildren by which side of the family they come from. 孙子 (sūn zi) specifically means your son's son; your paternal grandson. Your daughter's son is 外孙 (wài sūn), where 外 means 'outside,' reflecting the traditional view that daughters marry into another family. Older folks still care about this split, though younger parents often use 孙子 loosely. In casual speech, drop 的; '我孙子今年五岁' sounds more natural than the textbook version.
Example sentences
我的孙子今年刚上小学。
Wǒ de sūn zi jīn nián gāng shàng xiǎo xué.
My grandson just started elementary school this year.
这是我孙子，他特别喜欢打篮球。
Zhè shì wǒ sūn zi, tā tè bié xǐ huān dǎ lán qiú.
This is my grandson, he really loves playing basketball.
我孙子周末会来看我。
Wǒ sūn zi zhōu mò huì lái kàn wǒ.
My grandson comes to visit me on weekends.