100+ Words and Phrases About Places in Chinese // Beginner Level

Places in Chinese | Your Guide to ALL the Key Vocab

places in chinese

Knowing how to say a few places in Chinese will get you far in a conversation.

  • Want to explain where you went this weekend?
  • What about where you have to go this afternoon?

There’s never enough vocabulary to learn, right?

This article is meant as a starting point for beginners in terms of places to know about.

It is here to help you build more complex sentences and be able to explain more about your weekend’s activities in your next Chinese class.

We’ll add short chapters with more details for certain locations, so you can be sure you’ll be learning even more Chinese vocabulary today.

Places in Chinese | Common Places

Places in Chinese | Sentence Structure

Places in Chinese | Bank

Places in Chinese | Pharmacy

Places in Chinese | Hospital

Places in Chinese | School

Places in Chinese | Travel Agency

BONUS | Test Your Knowledge

First things first:

Place in Chinese is 地方 dìfāng

Common Places in Chinese

Here’s a list of common places in Chinese you should learn first.

There are of course a lot more places we could include in this table, but this article is meant for beginner students.

Let’s crack on

If you’d like to share more places your learned in class or during self-study, make sure to write a comment below!

Places in Chinese are listed in alphabetical order:

EnglishHanziPinyin
Bank银行 yín háng
Casino赌场dǔ chǎng
Cathedral大教堂dà jiào táng
Church教会 jiào huì
City hall市政厅 shì zhèng tīng
College学院 xué yuàn
Drugstore, pharmacy药房yào fáng
Embassy大使馆dà shǐ guǎn
Gas station加油站jiā yóu zhàn
Hospital医院 yī yuàn
Hotel酒店 jiǔ diàn
Information office问询处 wèn xún chù
Library图书馆tú shū guǎn
Money exchange货币兑换 huò bì duì huàn
Mosque清真寺qīng zhēn sì
Movie theater电影院 diàn yǐng yuàn
Museum博物馆bó wù guǎn
Nightclub夜总会yè zǒng huì
Opera歌剧院 gē jù yuàn
Optical store眼镜店 yǎn jìng diàn
Parking lot停车场tíng chē chǎng
Restaurant餐厅 cāntīng
School学校 xué xiào
Store商店 shāng diàn
Subway地铁dì tiě
Synagogue犹太教徒 yóu tài jiào táng
Temple庙宇miào yǔ
Theater剧院 jù yuàn
Travel agency旅行社 lǚ xíng shè
University大学dà xué
Zoo动物园dòng wù yuán

Places in Chinese | Sentence Structure

To indicate the location where the activity or event takes place, you need to use the following sentence structure:

Subject + 在 + Place + Verb (+ Object)

在 (zài) is a preposition you will see very often in your Chinese studies, considering it is the 8th most common Chinese character!

Let’s have a look at some examples, so you know how to use it in a sentence:

  • 他在公司工作。
  • tā zài gōngsī gōngzuò.
  • He works at the company.
  • 妈妈在超市买东西。
  • māmā zài chāoshì mǎi dōngxī.
  • Mum is shopping in the supermarket.
  • 弟弟在书店买书。
  • dìdì zài shūdiàn mǎishū.
  • Younger brother buys books in the bookstore.

NOTE In English, location is usually put at the end of a sentence. In Chinese, location is usually put after the subject but before the verb.

Make sure to build your sentence in the right order!

actually has more than one usage, and can be used as a verb or a complement.

We’ve put together a very useful guide on how to use 在 with lots of sentence examples to make it easier to understand.

Make sure to check it out and add it to your favourites, so you can always come back to check some Chinese Grammar points you’re unsure about!

CHINESE GRAMMAR BANK | Find more lessons like this one in our Grammar Bank.

Bank in Chinese | 银行 yín háng

Let’s teach you some words you could need at your next visit to the bank.

Going to the bank in China can be an arduous experience.

The queue is usually quite long and depending on your city, bank employees might not be used to foreign documentation, making it an even more awkward experience.

Hopefully this will help you a bit.

If you’d like to discover more, check out our articles about money in Chinese, and this one about Chinese currency.

Want even more? We also have one about cryptocurrency in Chinese. Don’t say we don’t look after you!

EnglishCharactersPinyin
Bank clerk, consultant顾问gù wèn
Banking account账户zhànghù
Account number账号zhàng hào
Checking account活期账户huó qī zhànghù
Savings account储蓄账户chǔ xù zhànghù
To open an account开立账户kāi lì zhàng hù
To close the account关闭账户guān bì zhànghù
To deposit into the account存入账户cún rù zhàng hù
To withdraw (v)取钱qǔqián
To make a deposit存款 cún kuǎn
Wire transfer汇款 huì kuǎn
Sum金额 jīn é
Credit card信用卡xìn yòng kǎ
Code密码mì mǎ
Credit card number信用卡号码xìn yòng kǎ hào mǎ
ATM自动取款机zì dòng qǔ kuǎn jī
Check支票 zhī piào
Checkbook支票本zhī piào běn
To apply for a loan借款jiè kuǎn
To get a loan取得贷款 qǔ dé dài kuǎn
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc2gTZCOWXq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Pharmacy in Chinese | 药房 yào fáng

If you forgot to bring some items for your first aid kit before you come to China, fear not!

Here’s a list of common items you can find in every pharmacy.

Check out our dedicated article for more vocabulary related to Health in Chinese.

EnglishCharactersPinyin
Bandages包扎 bāo zhā
Band AidOK绷 O.K bēng
Cleansing wipes清洁湿巾 qīngjié shī jīn
Disposable sterile gloves一次性无菌手套 yícì xìng wú jūn shǒutào
First aid急救jí jiù
Gauze纱布 shā bù
Ointment药膏 yào ɡāo
Painkillers止痛药 zhǐtòng yào
Safety pins安全别针 ānquán biézhēn
Scissors剪刀 jiǎn dāo
Sticky tape胶带 jiāodài
Thermometer温度计 wēndùjì
Tweezers镊子夹子 nièzi jiázi
To wrap up绷带 bēng dài

Hospital in Chinese |  医院 yīyuàn

Following the previous vocab topic, here we go for more vocabulary related to hospital in Chinese.

You can discover what it’s like to visit a Chinese hospital from the perspective of a foreigner as LTL student Tereza and her Mum Lenka document.

EnglishCharactersPinyin
Sick person病人bìng rén
Clinic诊所zhěn suǒ
Doctor医生yī shēng
Nurse护士hù shi
Patient 患者huàn zhě
Surgeon外科医生wài kē yī shēng
To be hospitalised住院zhù yuàn
Stethoscope听诊器tīng zhěn qì
Medical prescription处方chǔ fāng
Virus病毒bìng dú
Infect / contagious传染chuán rǎn
Accident事故shì gù
Suffer injuries (in an accident, etc.)受伤shòu shāng
Delivery / labor分娩fēn miǎn
Inspection / to examine检查jiǎn chá
Wheelchair轮椅lún yǐ
To anaesthetize麻醉má zuì
Surgical operation 手术shǒu shù
Blood test验血yàn xuè
Injection / to inject注射zhù shè
Hospital in China 👩🏾‍⚕️ No Need To Worry // Lenka and Tereza's Story Thumbnail

Hospital in China 👩🏾‍⚕️ No Need To Worry // Lenka and Tereza’s Story

Hospital in China – This is the story of Lenka and her daughter Tereza, from the Czech Republic. Unfortunately during their first month, Tereza became sick.

School in Chinese | 学校 xué xiào

Get ready for school!

With this vocabulary, you’ll be ready to state what you have in your pencil case and find your way around school, all in Chinese.

EnglishCharactersPinyin
Pencil铅笔qiān bǐ
Bullet point pen圆珠笔yuánzhūbǐ
Fountain pen钢笔gāngbǐ
Colouring pen彩色铅笔cǎi sè qiān bǐ
Marker记号笔 jìhào bǐ
Eraser橡皮擦 xiàng pí cā
Glue胶水jiāoshuǐ
Scissors剪刀 jiǎndāo
Stapler订书机 dìngshūjī
Headmaster校长xiào zhǎng
Teacher老师 lǎoshī
Student 学生 xué sheng
Classroom教室jiào shì
Lesson一堂课yī táng kè
Recess课间休息kè jiān xiū xi
Dictation听写tīng xiě
Exam考试kǎo shì

Travel Agency in Chinese | 旅行社 lǚ xíng shè

Are you planning to come to China?

Either for work, leisure or studies, you might want to write the following vocabulary down.

EnglishCharactersPinyin
Flight 航班háng bān
Luggage行李xíng li
Map地图dì tú
Passport护照hù zhào
Ticketpiào
Visa签证 qiān zhèng
Arrival time到达时间dào dá shíjiān
Boarding pass登机牌 dēng jī pái
Information board航班信息板háng bān xìn xī bǎn
Lost Luggage Desk失物招领shī wù zhāo lǐng
Passport control护照检查hùzhào jiǎnchá
Departure gate登机口dēng jī kǒu
Check-in desk办理登机手续处 bàn lǐ dēng jī shǒu xù chù
Customs海关hǎi guān

How about that! Not only did you learn about the most common places in Chinese, you also got to learn a LOT more vocabulary on your journey.

We hope this helped you improve the way you describe your holidays or weekends in more detail.

Make sure to follow us on Instagram or Discord for even more free resources like this one.

VOCABULARY QUIZ

Now that you (obviously) learned each and every Chinese word of this page, test our your knowledge right now!

Results are immediate.

Welcome to Places Quiz! Enter your First name and email to begin. Don't worry you can unsubscribe at any time!

First Name
Email
What is 地铁 (dì tiě) in Chinese?

What is 夜总会 (yè zǒng huì) in Chinese?

How to say Hotel in Chinese?

What is 博物馆 (bó wù guǎn) in Chinese?

How to say Hospital in Chinese?

How to say City Hall in Chinese?

What is 药房 (yào fáng) in Chinese?

What is 动物园 (dòng wù yuán) in Chinese?

How to say School in Chinese?

How to say Embassy in Chinese?


BONUS | Like learning this kind of stuff? Why not discover these other languages too? You’ll notice some similarities between them which makes it much more fun to study!

PLACES IN CHINESE – FAQ’S

How do you say Hospital in Chinese?

Hospital in Chinese is 医院 yī yuàn.

How do you say Bank in Chinese?

Bank in Chinese is 银行 yín háng.

How do you say School in Chinese?

School in Chinese is 学校 xué xiào.

How do you say Embassy in Chinese?

Embassy in Chinese is 大使馆 dà shǐ guǎn.

How do you say Gas Station in Chinese?

Gas station in Chinese is 加油站 jiā yóu zhàn.

How do you say Nightclub in Chinese?

Nightclub in Chinese is 夜总会 yè zǒng huì.

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    Manuel Saldaña Quintans , Student Advisor

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