Mastering Chinese Pronouns: A Complete Guide For Beginners

THE PLURAL MARKER 们 (MEN)

Now, here’s a cool trick: you can make all the pronouns you just learned plural by adding 们 (men) to them:

我们 (wǒmen) – We, us
你们 (nǐmen) – You all
他们 (tāmen) – They/Them (for males)
她们 (tāmen) – They/Them (for females)
它们 (tāmen) – They/Them (for animals)

When we refer to a group in first-person, we have two options. “我们 (wǒmen),” which might exclude you, and “咱们 (zánmen),” which always includes you.

POLITE FORMS AND ADDRESSING GROUPS

Now, let’s add a dash of politeness! 🎩 First let’s learn the polite form of the word “you” in Chinese. It is 您 (nín).

If you want to show respect to more than one person, skip the plural marker, 们 (men), we learned a moment ago. Instead, you can use 您 (nín) + number + 位 (wèi) to address them. For instance:

• 您二位 (nín èr wèi) – For two people
• 您三位 (nín sān wèi) – For three people

Or, keep it flexible with:

• 您几位 (nín jī wèi) – For a few people
• 大家 (dàjiā) – Everybody
• 各位 (gèwèi) – Everybody

Although the words for “everybody” deviated a littler from our grammar lesson, you have those under your belt now.

HOW TO USE “IT” PROPERLY IN CHINESE

Alright, time to clear up the confusion beginners often have with the use of 它 (tā), meaning “it,” in Chinese.

Chinese doesn’t use the word “it” as often as English does. If fact, it is rarely used. So, when translating English into Chinese, it is most often wrong to translate the word “it.”

In English, we often say sentences like, “It is raining.” Here the word “it” serves as a subject for our sentence. In Chinese though, you don’t need a subject in such cases, you can simply say,'”rain” or 下雨了。 (xiàyǔ le). No “it” is needed as it is implied – how cool is that?

Don’t worry about the 了(le) in that sentence for now. We will cover it in a future grammar post. Let’s get back to “it” instead.

Now think about knocking on a friend’s door. They ask, “Who is it?” You say, “It’s me.” But, if you were a Chinese native, you might answer, “是我。 (Shì wǒ).” The word “it” is improper here in Chinese.

Just remember in most situations Chinese omits the “it” commonly used in English and you will be good to go.

So what is the word “it” used for in Chinese? Well, it mostly hangs out with animals.

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

So now you are wondering, if we can’t say “it” how do we talk about inanimate objects in Chinese properly? Well, we have our trusty demonstrative pronouns:

• 这 (zhè) – This
• 那 (nà) – That

A demonstrative pronoun is simply a word that can stand in for a noun. Here is an example. Think of a child saying “It’s mine” in English. If the child were Chinese, it could say, “这是我的。 (Zhè shì wǒ de.),” using a demonstrative pronoun. “是我的。(Shì wǒ de.)” can also be used in this situation.

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS AND “自己”

Let’s move on to reflexive pronouns! These are pronouns that refer back to the subject of the clause in which it is used. Think of words such as myself, himself, or ourselves.

In Chinese, all you need to do is add 自己 (zìjǐ) to the pronouns we’ve already learned:

• 我自己 (wǒ zìjǐ) – Myself
• 你自己 (nǐ zìjǐ) – Yourself
• 他自己 (tā zìjǐ) – Himself
• 她自己 (tā zìjǐ) – Herself
• 我们自己 (wǒmen zìjǐ) – Ourselves

And there you have it – a crash course in Chinese pronouns!

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Thanks so much, and see you in the next Grammar Bite!

Your Favorite Mandarin Maniac, Ashley 😉