Chinese Pronouns
Learning the Chinese Pronouns is very important because its structure is used in every day conversation. The more you practice the subject, the closer you get to mastering the Chinese language. But first we need to know what the role of Pronouns is in the structure of the grammar in Chinese.
Chinese pronouns include personal pronouns (refer to the persons speaking, the persons spoken to, or the persons or things spoken about), indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns (connect parts of sentences) and reciprocal or reflexive pronouns (in which the object of a verb is being acted on by verb's subject).
Grammar Tips:
In
English personal pronouns are (I, you, he, she, it, we, you), and (me, you,
him, her, it, us, you), In Mandarin, the personal pronouns are: wo (I
and me), ni (you in all forms, similar to the English you) and ta
(he, she, her, him, and it). As stated above, plurals are made by adding the
ending men.
Indirect
Object Pronouns:
There
is no special form for indirect pronouns.
Possessive
Pronouns:
In
Chinese, to form the possessive of pronouns or of any word, the word is
followed the character de. Wo de (mine), ta de (his,
hers, it’s), and ma de (horse’s)
Here are some examples:
| English Pronouns | Chinese Pronouns |
| Pronouns | dài cí - 代词 |
| I | wǒ - 我 |
| you | nǐ - 你 |
| he | tā;tuó - 他 |
| she | tā - 她 |
| we | wǒ men - 我们 |
| they | tā men - 他们 |
| |
| me | wǒ - 我 |
| you | nǐ - 你 |
| him | tā;tuó - 他 |
| her | tā - 她 |
| us | wǒ men - 我们 |
| them | tā men - 他们 |
| |
| my | wǒ de - 我的 |
| your | nín de;dì;dí - 您的 |
| his | tā de - 他的 |
| her | tā de - 她的 |
| our | wǒ men de - 我们的 |
| their | tā men de - 他们的 |
| |
| mine | wǒ de - 我的 |
| yours | nǐ de - 你的 |
| his | tā de - 他的 |
| hers | tā de - 她的 |
| ours | wǒ men de - 我们的 |
| theirs | tā men de - 他们的 |
As you can see from the example above, the structure of the Pronouns in Chinese has a logical pattern. Locate the Pronouns above and see how it works with the rest of the sentence in Chinese. In Chinese to make the possessive just add 的 de behind the pronoun.
List of Pronouns in Chinese
Below is a list of the Personal pronouns, indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns, reciprocal or reflexive pronouns in Chinese placed in a table. Memorizing this table will help you add very useful and important words to your Chinese vocabulary.
| English Pronouns | Chinese Pronouns |
| I speak | wǒ shuō;shuì - 我说 |
| you speak | nǐ shuō;shuì - 你说 |
| he speaks | tā;tuó shuō;shuì - 他说 |
| she speaks | tā shuō;shuì - 她说 |
| we speak | wǒ men shuō;shuì - 我们说 |
| they speak | tā mén shuō - 他们说 |
| |
| give me | gěi wǒ - 给我 |
| | gěi nǐ - 给你 |
| give him | gěi tā;tuó - 给他 |
| give her | gěi tā - 给她 |
| give us | gěi wǒ men - 给我们 |
| give them | gěi tā men - 给他们 |
| |
| my book | wǒ de shū - 我的书 |
| your book | nǐ de shū - 你的书 |
| his book | tā de shū - 他的书 |
| her book | tā de shū - 她的书 |
| our book | wǒ men de shū - 我们的书 |
| their book | tā men de shū - 他们的书 |
Personal pronouns, indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns, reciprocal or reflexive pronouns have a very important role in Chinese, therefore they need very special attention. Once you're done with the Mandarin Pronouns, you might want to check the rest of our Chinese lessons here: Learn Chinese. Don't forget to bookmark this page.