Losing a tooth is a big deal!

In Chinese we can say 我换牙了(wǒ huàn yá le) which literally means ‘I am replacing my tooth!’, because when you lose a milk tooth it is because a new one is going to grow!

In Australia, we put our fallen out milk teeth under our pillow and wait for the tooth fairy to collect it in exchange for a dollar or hopefully two….:-)

In China, our friends have told us that they do something completely different!  If the tooth is from the upper jaw, the fallen out tooth is often put under the bed, to draw the new tooth coming out to grow down nice and straight!  If the tooth is from the lower jaw, the fallen out tooth is thrown onto the roof!  This will ensure that the new tooth grows upwards nice and straight 🙂

If you would like to learn a little more how to talk about losing a tooth in Chinese, and what we do here in Oz, you can watch the great Groovi Pauli here!

我换牙了。Wǒ huàn yá le (I lost a tooth.)
我换牙了。Wǒ huàn yá le (I lost a tooth.)
我的牙齿掉下来了。 wǒ de yá chǐ diào xià lái le
(My tooth has fallen out.)

牙齿仙子也来了。 yá chǐ xiān zi yě lái le (The tooth fairy also came.)
真快乐，我换牙了. zhēn kuài le wǒ huàn yá le ( So happy, I lost a tooth.)

一颗，yì kē (one tooth)
两颗， liǎng kē (two teeth)
三颗 sān kē (three teeth)
四颗， sì kē (four teeth)
五颗。wǔ kē (five teeth.)
牙齿， 全掉了！yá chǐ quán diào le
(The teeth are all gone!)

你换牙了。nǐ huàn yá le (You lost a tooth.)
你换牙了。Nǐ huàn yá le (You lost a tooth.)
你的牙齿掉下来了。 nǐ de yá chǐ diào xià lái le (Your tooth has fallen out.)

牙齿仙子也来了。 yá chǐ xiān zi yě lái le (The tooth fairy also came.)
真快乐，你换牙了. zhēn kuài le nǐ huàn yá le ( So happy, you lost a tooth.)