Comparing "shao" and "xiao"

Both 少 and 小 can translated to mean “little”. In this sense 少 means “little” as small in quantity or number, while 小 means “little” as small in size or magnitude. Yet, each has distinct uses as 少 can also mean “seldom”, “few”, or “less”, and 小 can also mean “young”, “minor”, or “petty”.

A2HSK2ASV4567

	少 (shǎo)	小 (xiǎo)
Meaning	small (quantity or number), seldom, few, less	small (size or magnitude), young, minor, petty
Part of Speech	adjective	adjective
Formality	flexible	flexible

:Yes

To express "small" (size) or "young" use 小

These are fairly obvious, because most of them work as direct translations from Chinese to English.

Common Phrases

• 小孩儿
• 小问题
• 小狗

Example Sentences

• 我 有 一 只 小 狗。 Wǒ yǒu yī zhǐ xiǎogǒu .
• 这里 有 一 个 小孩儿。 Zhèlǐ yǒu yī gè xiǎoháir .
• 这 是 一 个 小 问题。 Zhè shì yī gè xiǎo wèntí .

To express "small" in magnitude learn set phrases

These are a bit tricky because they don't translate directly into English using the word "small" or little, but you nevertheless have to learn them. We won't cover all of these phrases here; we'll just share some of the more common ones.

Common Phrases

• 声音很小
• 雨很小

Don't use 少 for these meanings.

Example Sentences

• 雨很小，不用带伞。
• 声音太小了，我听不到。

To express "young" as an adjective use 小

This one you need to watch out for, because as a speaker of English, you're going to want to translate "young" as 年轻 (niánqīng), but in fact 年轻 (niánqīng) only works as the opposite of *old*. So if you just want to say you're slightly younger than someone else (maybe by a year), you need to use 小. If you use 年轻, you're implying that the other person is *old*.

Example Sentences

• 我比你小两岁。
• 她喜欢比她大的男孩。
• 你妹妹还很小吧？

少 only means "young" when used in certain nouns

Meanwhile, 少 can also be used to mean "young," but *only in set words* which you'll learn later, such as 少年 (shàonián) or 少女 (shàonǚ). In these words, 少 is pronounced fourth tone ("shào") rather than the usual third tone ("shǎo").

To say "few" or "small" in quantity or number, use 少

Common Phrases

• 朋友很少
• 钱很少
• 人很少

Obviously, you can't use 小 for these meanings.

Example Sentences

• 我的钱太少了。
• 今天来的人很少。
• 我的朋友很少。

To say "seldom" or "rarely", use 少

Pattern

（很）少 + Verb Phrase

Example Sentences

• 最近我很少出去。
• 他很少吃肉。
• 老板很少生气。

Sources and further reading

Websites

• "小" 和 "少" 和有什么不一样? (HiNative)
• 少和小有什么区别? (百度知道)