Comparing "renjia" and "bieren"

Revision as of 04:04, 22 February 2013 by Guomubai (talk | contribs)
Chinese-grammar-wiki-人家.jpg


When describing others, we can use the word 人家 or 别人. But 人家 also has other grammatical uses, which we will explore in this article.

Both mean "others"

人家 and 别人 both refer to others besides the speaker and the listener, however, 人家 is more colloquial.


Structure

Verb + 人家/别人

Examples

  • 我 不 在乎 人家 怎么 说。
  • 我 不 在乎 别人 怎么 说。

人家 can mean "I"

人家 can be used to refer to yourself, and it is often used this way by women, giving it a sort of girly, shy, tender feeling.


Structure

人家 + VP

Examples

  • 因为 人家 喜欢 你 嘛。
  • 讨厌,老是 拿 人家 开玩笑。

人家 can mean a certain "him" or "her"

人家 can also refer to someone previously referred to (in the context of the conversation or body of text)or it can refer to a certain someone that both the speaker and listener know.

Structure

Subject + Verb + 人家

Examples

  • 你 快 去 给 人家 道歉。
  • 你 看 人家 升职 升 得 多 快,你呢?

人家 can mean "residents"

人家 can also mean residents or inhabitant.


Structure

人家

Examples

  • 这里 很 少 有 人家
  • 前面 有 一 户 人家,我们 去 看看 吧。


Sources and further reading

Books

Dictionaries