How to address each brother and sister?

[Chunn]

Suppose that I have brothers and sisters like this,

1st big brother, 2nd elder sister, 3rd elder brother, 4th me, 5th younger sister, 6th little brother.

What should I address each of them? Are the followings correct?

1st 大哥，2nd 二姐，3rd 三哥，5th 五妹，6th 六弟

[geraldc]

Well I don't think you need the numbers for the sisters, as you only have one older, and one younger sister, also no number for the little brother as you only have one of those, and then with the older brother he would be 大哥 and the other would just be 哥.

[Song You Shen]

I would assume it would be something like this:

1st 大哥

2nd 姐姐

3rd 二哥

5th 妹妹

6th 四弟

But I could be wrong...

Youshen

[elina]

1st 大哥

2nd 姐姐

3rd 二哥

5th 妹妹

6th 四弟

I think Youshen is almost right:

1st 大哥

2nd 姐姐

3rd 二哥

5th 妹妹

6th 弟弟

[Song You Shen]

I remember watching a few TV series' where there were 7 brothers, all brothers called each other by their birth order. So that's why i used 四弟.

Youshen

[Lu]

But didi is the 6th child, I think that'd make him liudi.

I read Ji'e de nv'er, in that book the main character numbered her siblings like that: dajie, erjie, sange, sijie etc.

[elina]

I think:

1st 大哥(because there are two older brothers, so add number according the order of the two older brothers)

2nd 姐姐(because there is only one older sister, so no necessary to add number here)

3rd 二哥(because there are two older brothers, so add number according the order of the two older brothers)

5th 妹妹(because there is only one younger sister, so no necessary to add number here)

6th 弟弟(because there is only one younger brother, so no necessary to add number here)

[shibo77]

Right,

There are four orders:

哥gē brother, your senior

弟dì brother, your junior

姐jiě sister, your senior

妹mèi sister, your junior

The first would would have the prefix 大dà, as in:

大哥dàgē eldest brother

大姐dàjiě eldest sister

The last would have the prefix 小xiǎo, as in:

小弟xiǎodì youngest brother

小妹xiǎomèi youngest sister

The ones in between would be ordered accordingly in the four orders:

二哥èrgē elder brother

三哥sāngē elder brother

四哥sìgē elder brother

五哥wǔgē elder brother ...

二弟èrdì younger brother

三弟sāndì younger brother

四弟sìdì younger brother

五弟wǔdì younger brother ...

二姐èrjiě elder sister

三姐sānjiě elder sister

四姐sìjiě elder sister

五姐wújiě elder sister ...

二妹èrmèi younger sister

三妹sānmèi younger sister

四妹sìmèi younger sister

五妹wǔmèi younger sister ...

However, if one has only two brothers or sisters, then just call them:

哥哥gēge elder brother, big brother

弟弟dìdi younger brother, little brother

姐姐jiějie elder sister, big sister

妹妹mèimei younger sister, little sister

You could have two elders, and one younger, brothers for example, then call them:

大哥dàgē eldest brother

二哥èrgē elder brother

弟弟dìdi younger brother, little brother (or you can call him 小弟xiǎodì youngest brother if you would like)

I hope I didn't complicate things...

-Shìbó

[Chunn]

shibo77, you had very systematic reply.

Anyway, I still have question,

The ones in between would be ordered accordingly in the four orders:

二哥èrgē elder brother

三哥sāngē elder brother

四哥sìgē elder brother

五哥wǔgē elder brother ...

二弟èrdì younger brother

三弟sāndì younger brother

四弟sìdì younger brother

五弟wǔdì younger brother ...

二姐èrjiě elder sister

三姐sānjiě elder sister

四姐sìjiě elder sister

五姐wújiě elder sister ...

二妹èrmèi younger sister

三妹sānmèi younger sister

四妹sìmèi younger sister

五妹wǔmèi younger sister ...

Are the numbers represent the order of the child from the whole children, or the order of the child from the same kind?

[Zingaro]

Try this for more than you ever wanted to know about family relations and titles:

http://www.kwanfamily.info/familytitles/familytitle.html

I get rather lost in all this. Fortunately, my wife-to-be has only three sisters (one elder, two younger) and all are married. This simplifies things a bit for me, except for the "honorary" sisters and sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, aunts and uncles.