HSK 1·Pronouns

Chinese Personal Pronouns: 我, 你, 他, 她

Chinese personal pronouns are refreshingly simple: no case changes, no gender agreement, and just one suffix (们) to make any pronoun plural. The only catch is that 他, 她, and 它 are all pronounced tā — context does the gender work in speech.

The Full Pronoun Table

ChinesePinyinEnglish
我wǒI / me
你nǐyou (singular, informal)
您nínyou (singular, formal/polite)
他tāhe / him
她tāshe / her
它tāit (non-human)
我们wǒmenwe / us
你们nǐmenyou (plural)
他们tāmenthey / them (male or mixed)
她们tāmenthey / them (all female)
它们tāmenthey / them (non-human)

Making Pronouns Plural with 们

Add 们 (men) to any personal pronoun to make it plural. The suffix is unstressed and loses its tone in natural speech.

  • 我 → 我们 (I → we)
  • 你 → 你们 (you → you all)
  • 他/她/它 → 他们/她们/它们 (he/she/it → they)

Polite You: 您 (nín)

您 is the formal second-person pronoun. Use it with elders, customers, teachers, and anyone you want to show extra respect. It has no plural form — in formal settings you would use 您们 only rarely, and many speakers simply avoid it.

  • 您好, nín hǎo — formal greeting (vs. 你好 informal)
  • 您贵姓？, Nín guì xìng? — "May I ask your surname?" (polite)

Distinguishing 他/她/它 in Speech

All three are pronounced tā. In spoken Mandarin, listeners rely entirely on context, topic, and surrounding nouns to understand which is meant. The written distinction (different characters) is a modern invention borrowed from Western grammar — classical Chinese had no such split.

Subject, Object — No Change

Unlike English (I/me, he/him, they/them), Chinese pronouns do not inflect for grammatical role. 我 is both "I" and "me", 他 is both "he" and "him". Word order and context carry the meaning.

  • 我爱你 — wǒ ài nǐ — I love you.
  • 你爱我 — nǐ ài wǒ — You love me. (Same characters, reversed order.)

Examples

Personal pronouns in context

ChinesePinyinEnglish
我是学生。Wǒ shì xuésheng.I am a student.
你叫什么名字？Nǐ jiào shénme míngzì?What is your name?
他在哪里？Tā zài nǎlǐ?Where is he?
她很漂亮。Tā hěn piàoliang.She is very pretty.
它是我的猫。Tā shì wǒ de māo.It is my cat.
我们一起去吧。Wǒmen yīqǐ qù ba.Let's go together.
你们都来了吗？Nǐmen dōu lái le ma?Did you all come?
他们是朋友。Tāmen shì péngyou.They are friends.

Common mistakes

Using 他/她/它 differently in speech because they look different in writing.
All three are tā in speech. Do not try to differentiate them phonetically — that would sound unnatural.

The three-way written split is modern and phonetic; spoken Mandarin has always used one sound for all third-person singular pronouns.

Saying 人们们 — adding 们 to a noun that already has a plural meaning or context.
们 is added once. Never double it. Nouns in Chinese are usually left uninflected: 三个学生 (three students), not 三个学生们.

Chinese nouns do not grammatically require plural marking. 们 on a noun is optional emphasis, not standard grammar, and never doubled.

Confusing 你 and 您 and using 你 when addressing someone older or in a formal setting.
Switch to 您 (nín) for elders, teachers, customers, or new acquaintances in formal contexts.

Using 你 with a senior can come across as rude or overly familiar. 您 signals respect and social awareness.

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Test what you just read

5 sections · 24 questions

Your progress: 0 of 24

  1. 1
    Multiple choice

    Which pronoun would you use to address a professor politely?

  2. 2
    Multiple choice

    How do you write "she" in Chinese?

  3. 3
    True or false

    True or false: 他 and 她 are pronounced differently.

  4. 4
    Fill in the blank

    Translate "it" (referring to an animal) into Chinese.

  5. 5
    Match the pairs

    Match each pronoun to its English meaning.

    我
    你
    她
    它
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