Chinese pronouns

Chinese pronouns (Chinese: 代词/代詞; pinyin: dàicí or Chinese: 代名詞; pinyin: dàimíngcí) differ somewhat from pronouns in English and other Indo-European languages. For instance, there is no differentiation in the spoken language between "he", "she" and "it" (though a written difference was introduced after contact with the West), and pronouns are not inflected to indicate whether they are the subject or object of a sentence. Mandarin Chinese further lacks a distinction between the possessive adjective ("my") and possessive pronoun ("mine"); both are formed by appending the particle 的 de. Some honorifics exist in the language, but modern Chinese, especially in the spoken language, does not express the differing levels of respect that can be seen in Honorific speech in Japanese or Korean honorifics.

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns

Person	Singular				Plural*
First person	我 wǒ I, me				Exclusive		Inclusive
					我們** wǒmen we, us		咱們† zánmen we, us
Second person	Informal		Formal		你們 nǐmen you
	你 nǐ you		您 nín you
Third person	他/她/它 tā (s)he, him, her‡				他們/她們/它們 tāmen they, them‡

* The character to indicate plurality is 們 (men) in Traditional Chinese characters.

** 我們 can be either inclusive or exclusive, depending on the circumstance where it is used.

^†Used to indicate 'you and I' (two people) only; in all other cases wǒmen is used. This form has fallen into disuse outside Beijing, and may be a Manchu influence.

^‡In written Chinese, a distinction between masculine human 他 (he, him), feminine human 她 (she, her), and non-human 它 (it) [and similarly in the plural] was introduced in the early 20th century under European influence. This distinction does not exist in the spoken language, where moreover tā is restricted to animate reference; inanimate entities are usually referred to with demonstrative pronouns for 'this' and 'that'.

A second-person pronoun 祢 mí is sometimes used for addressing deities.

The first-person pronouns 俺 ǎn and 偶 ǒu "I" are infrequently used in Mandarin conversation. They are of dialectal origin. However, their usage is gaining popularity among the young, most notably in online communications.

Traditional Chinese characters, as influenced by translations from Western languages and the Bible in the nineteenth century, occasionally distinguished gender in pronouns, although that distinction is abandoned in simplified Characters. Those traditional characters developed after Western contact include both masculine and feminine forms of "you" (你 and 妳), rarely used today even in writings in traditional characters; in the simplified system, 妳 is rare.

The traditional characters also included three neuter third-person pronouns after Western contact, 牠 (tā) for animals, 祂 for deities, and 它 for inanimate objects. However, the distinction of these three characters vary from person to person, yet for some the confusion of three characters might be considered to be offensive. Whereas in simplified characters, 它 is used in place of all three characters 祂 牠 它.

There are many other pronouns in modern Sinitic languages, such as Taiwanese Minnan 恁 (pinyin: nín; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lín) "you" and Written Cantonese 佢哋 (keúih deih) "they." There exist many more pronouns in Classical Chinese and in literary works, including 汝 (rǔ) or 爾 (ěr) for "you", and 吾 (wú) for "I" (see Chinese honorifics). They are not routinely encountered in colloquial speech.

Historical development of personal pronouns

		Historical			Modern
		Shang and early Zhou period	Classical Chinese	Southern and Northern Dynasties period and Tang Dynasty	Mandarin	Wu (Shanghainese)	Southern Min (Hokkien)	Hakka	Yue (Cantonese)
Singular	1.	余 *la, 予 *laʔ, 朕 *lrəmʔ	我 *ŋˤajʔ, 吾 *ŋˤa, 余 *la, 予 *laʔ	我 wǒ, 吾 wú	我 wǒ	吾 ŋu˩˧	我 goá	𠊎 ŋai̯˩˩	我 ŋɔː˩˧
	2.	汝/女 *naʔ, 乃 *nˤəʔ	爾 *neʔ, 汝/女 *naʔ, 而 *nə, 若 *nak	爾 ěr, 汝/女 rǔ, 你 nǐ	你 nǐ	侬 noŋ˩˧	你 lí, 汝 lú	ŋ˩˩	你 nei˩˧
	3.	厥 *kot, 之 *tə, 其 *gə	之 *tə, 其 *gə	其 qí, 渠 qú; 伊 yī, 之 zhī, 他 tā	他, 她, 它 tā	伊 ɦi˩˧	伊 i	ki˩˩	佢 kʰɵy˩˧
Plural	1.	我 *ŋˤajʔ	same as singular	Singular + 等 děng, 曹 cáo, 輩 bèi	我們 wǒmen	阿拉 ɐʔ˧˧ lɐʔ˦˦	阮 goán	ŋai̯˩˩ tɛʊ˧˧ ŋin˩˩	我哋 ŋɔː˩˧ tei˨˨
	2.	爾 *neʔ			你們 nǐmen	㑚 na˩˧	恁 lín	ŋ˩˩ tɛʊ˧˧ ŋin˩˩	你哋 nei˩˧ tei˨˨
	3.	(not used)			他們, 她們, 它們 tāmen	伊拉 ɦi˩˩ lɐʔ˧˧	𪜶 in	ki˩˩ tɛʊ˧˧ ŋin˩˩	佢哋 kʰɵy˩˧ tei˨˨

Possessives

To indicate alienable possession, 的 (de) is appended to the pronoun. For inalienable possession, such as family and entities very close to the owner, this may be omitted, e.g. 我妈/我媽 (wǒ mā) "my mother". For older generations, 令 (lìng) is the equivalent to the modern form 您的 (nínde), as in 令尊 (lìngzūn) "your father". In literary style, 其 (qí) is sometimes used for "his" or "her"; e.g. 其父 means "his father" or "her father".

In Cantonese, for possessive, 嘅 (ge3) is appended to the pronoun. It is used in the same way as 的 in Mandarin.

In Taiwanese Minnan the character for "your" is 恁 (pinyin: rèn; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lín); although this would be pronounced the same as the personal pronoun 汝 lín, it is represented by a different character when used as the equivalent of 你的 in Standard Chinese.

Demonstrative pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns work the same as in English.

	Singular	Plural
Proximal	这个/這個 zhège this	这些/這些 zhèxiē these
Distal	那个/那個 nàge that	那些 nàxiē those

The distinction between singular and plural are made by the classifier 个/個 (gè) and 些 (xiē), and the following nouns remain the same. Usually inanimate objects are referred using these pronouns rather than the personal pronouns 它 (tā) and 它們 (tāmen). Traditional forms of these pronouns are: 這個 (zhège), 這些 (zhèxiē), 那個 (nàge), 那些 (nàxiē), and 它們 tāmen.

Pronouns in imperial times

See also Chinese honorifics.

In imperial times, the pronoun for "I" was commonly omitted when speaking politely or to someone with higher social status. "I" was usually replaced with special pronouns to address specific situations. Examples include 寡人 guǎrén during early Chinese history and 朕 zhèn after the Qin dynasty when the Emperor is speaking to his subjects. When the subjects speak to the Emperor, they address themselves as 臣 (chén), or "your official". It was extremely impolite and taboo to address the Emperor as "you" or to address oneself as "I".

In modern times, the practice of self-deprecatory terms is still used in specific formal situations. In résumés, the term 贵/貴 (guì; lit. noble) is used for "you" and "your"; e.g., 贵公司/貴公司 refers to "your company". 本人 (běn rén; lit. this person) is used to refer to oneself.

See also

• Chinese grammar
• Chinese language
• Cantonese pronouns