Personal pronoun

Revision as of 08:58, 26 November 2013 by Mixue (talk | contribs) (Undo revision 19237 by Parry (talk))

Personal pronouns include 我, 你, 他, and 她. Those are all singular though. To make them plural, all you need to do is add the suffix "-们" to it. Additionally, there is a polite second person form "您", but that is falling out of usage, and it cannot take the "-们" suffix.

When referring to a group, "他们" refers to a group of all males or a mixed group. "她们" refers to a group of females. Note that this is only important while writing, because otherwise they are pronounced the same! You can also use this to say "and that group" by saying a name and then putting "他们" behind it. When referring to a group in first-person (i.e. we), there are two constructions in Chinese: 我们 and 咱们. The former is used to exclude the listener, while the latter includes them.

When making reflexive sentences (sentences with himself, myself, etc.), you have to add "自己" after the personal pronoun. This is sort of the "self" marker.

Examples

Question words
English Chinese Pinyin
I
you
he
she

All of the above can then add the suffix "-们" to them to make the plural: 我们 (we), 你们 (you all), 他们 (they), 她们 (they).

Adding the phrase "自己" gives you: 我自己 (myself), 你自己 (yourself), 他自己 (himself), 她自己 (herself), 我们自己 (ourselves), etc.

See Also