Chinese pronouns

Chinese pronouns ^[a] are pronouns in the Chinese languages. This article highlights Mandarin Chinese pronouns. There are also Cantonese pronouns and Hokkien pronouns.

Chinese pronouns differ somewhat from English pronouns and those of 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. Pronouns in Chinese are often substituted by honorific alternatives.

Personal pronouns

In Mandarin

Personal pronouns

Person	Singular		Plural
1st	我 wǒ I, me		我们 / 我們* wǒmen we, us (exclusive)	咱们 / 咱們† zánmen we, us (inclusive)
2nd	你 nǐ thou, you (informal)	您 nín you (formal)	你们 / 你們 nǐmen you (generic)	您 nín you (formal)
3rd	他, 她, 它 tā he, him / she, her / it		他们 / 他們, 她们 / 她們, 它们 / 它們 tāmen they, them

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

^†咱们 / 咱們 is mainly used by northern speakers.

Following the iconoclastic May Fourth Movement in 1919, and to accommodate the translation of Western literature, written vernacular Chinese developed separate pronouns for gender-differentiated speech, and to address animals, deities, and inanimate objects.

An early usage of the pronoun 她 (tā); Emancipation Pictorial , August 1921

Throughout the 1920s, a debate continued between three camps: those that preferred to preserve the preexisting use of 他 without distinction between genders, those that wished to preserve the spoken non-gendered pronoun but introduce a new female pronoun 她 in writing, and those that wished to introduce a differently pronounced female pronoun 伊. The pronoun 伊 enjoyed widespread support in the 1920s and 1930s but lost out to 她 after the Chinese Civil War. ^[1] Currently, written pronouns are divided between the masculine human 他 (he, him), feminine human 她 (she, her), and non-human 它 (it), and similarly in the plural. 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' (这/這 zhè) and 'that' (那 nà). ^[2]

Other, rarer new written pronouns in the second person are nǐ (祢 "you, a deity"), nǐ (你 "you, a male"), and nǐ (妳 "you, a female"). In the third person, they are tā (牠 "it, an animal"), tā (祂 "it, a deity"), and tā (它 "it, an inanimate object"). Among users of traditional Chinese characters, these distinctions are only made in Taiwanese Mandarin; in simplified Chinese, tā (它) is the only third-person non-human form and nǐ (你) is the only second person form. The third person distinction between "he" (他) and "she" (她) remain in use in all forms of written standard Mandarin. ^[3]

In the early 21st century, some members of genderfluid and queer Chinese online communities started using X也 and TA to refer to a generic, anonymous, or non-binary third person. ^[4] As of June 2022, neither have been encoded as a single code point in Unicode, ^[5] and neither are considered standard usage. Since at least 2014, Bilibili has used TA in its user pages. ^[6]

Additional notes

• 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.
• According to Wang Li, the second person formal pronoun nín (您 "you, formal; polite") is derived from the fusion of the second person plural nǐmen (你们 "you, formal; polite"), making it somewhat analogous to the T-V distinction in Romance languages. Consistent with this hypothesized origin, *nínmen is traditionally considered to be a grammatically incorrect expression for the formal second person plural. Instead, the alternative phrases dàjiā (大家, "you, formal plural") and gèwèi (各位, "you, formal plural") are used, with the latter being somewhat more formal than the former. In addition, some dialects use an analogous formal third person pronoun tān (怹, "he/she, formal; polite").
• 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). In the simplified system, 妳 is rare.

In other Sinitic languages

There are many other pronouns in modern Sinitic languages, such as Taiwanese Hokkien 恁 (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			Modern
		Shang and early Zhou period [7] [8]	Classical Chinese [9] [8]	Northern and Southern dynasties period and Tang dynasty [10]	Standard Chinese (Mandarin Chinese)	Shanghainese (Wu Chinese)	Hokkien (Min Chinese) [11]	Meixian Hakka (Hakka Chinese) [12] [13]	Cantonese (Yue Chinese)
Singular	1.	余*la, 予*laʔ, 朕*lrəmʔ	我*ŋˤajʔ, 吾*ŋˤa (subjective and possessiveonly), 余*la, 予*laʔ	我ngaX, 吾ngu	我wǒ	吾ŋu˩˧	我góa, óa	𠊎ŋai11	我ŋɔː˩˧
	2.	汝/女*naʔ, 乃*nˤəʔ	爾*neʔ, 汝/女*naʔ, 而*nə, 若*nak	爾nejX, 汝/女nyoX, 你nejX	你nǐ	儂noŋ˩˧	汝lí, lír, lú	你n11,ŋ11,ɲi11	你nei˩˧
	3.	厥*kot (possessive), 之*tə (objective), 其*gə (possessive), third person subject pronoun did not exist	之*tə (objective), 其*gə (possessive), third person subject pronoun did not exist	其gi, 渠gjo; 伊’jij, 之tsyi, 他tha	他, 她, 它tā	伊ɦi˩˧	伊i	佢ɡi11,i11	佢kʰɵy˩˧
Plural	1.	我*ŋˤajʔ	same as singular	Singular + 等tongX, 曹dzaw, 輩pwojH	Both INCL. and EXCL. 我們wǒmen INCL. 咱們zánmen	阿拉ɐʔ˧lɐʔ˦	EXCL. 阮goán, gún, ún INCL. 咱lán	EXCL. 𠊎兜/𠊎等ŋai11deu24/ŋai11nen24 INCL. 這兜/大家en24ia31deu24/en24tai55ga24	我哋ŋɔː˩˧tei˨
	2.	爾*neʔ			你們nǐmen	㑚na˩˧	恁lín	你兜/你等ŋ11deu24/ŋ11nen24	你哋nei˩˧tei˨
	3.	(not used)			他們, 她們, 它們tāmen	伊拉ɦi˩lɐʔ˧	𪜶in	佢兜/佢等ɡi11deu24/i11nen24	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" or as a gender-neutral pronoun; 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 Hokkien, possessive pronouns are homophonous with plural pronouns. For example, 恁 (Pe̍h-ōe-jī :lín) can mean either "your" or "you (plural)".

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.

Interrogative pronouns

Pronoun	Alternative HÉ-system	English
谁 / 誰 shéi	何人 hérén (what person)	who
哪个 / 哪個 nǎge	何个 / 何個 hége (what one)	which one
什麼 / 什么 shénme	何 何物 hé / héwù (what)	what
哪裡 / 哪里 nǎlǐ 哪兒 / 哪儿 nǎr	何处 / 何處 héchù 何地 hédì (what location)	where
什麼時候 / 什么时候 shénme shíhou	何时 / 何時 héshí (what time)	when
为什么 / 為什麼 wèi shénme	爲何 / 為何 wèihé (for what)	why
怎么 / 怎麼 zěnme	如何 rúhé (what to follow)	how
多少 duōshǎo 几 / 幾 jǐ	几何 / 幾何 jǐhé (what the amount)	how much

Indefinite pronouns

Pronoun	English
大家dàjiā	everyone
谁都shéidōu
谁也shéiyě	anybody
谁都不shéidōubù	no one
谁也不shéiyěbù	nobody

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 guǎrén (寡人) during early Chinese history and zhèn (朕) after the Qin dynasty when the Emperor is speaking to his subjects. When the subjects speak to the Emperor, they address themselves as chén (臣), or "your official". It was extremely impolite and taboo to address the Emperor as "you" or to refer to oneself as "I".

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

See also

• China portal

• Chinese honorifics
• Chinese grammar
• Chinese language
• Cantonese pronouns
• Hokkien pronouns

Notes

1. Chinese :代词/代詞; pinyin :dàicí or Chinese :代名詞; pinyin :dàimíngcí

References

1. Zhang, Yun. "A Cultural History of the Chinese Character "Ta (She)"—On the invention and identification of a new female pronoun | Harvard-Yenching Institute". Harvard-Yenching Institute. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
2. Sun, pp. 166–167.
3. Shei, Chris (2019). The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Discourse Analysis. Routledge. p. 200.
4. "他/TA/X也: What Pronouns Do Chinese Queer People Use?". RADII | Stories from the center of China’s youth culture. 25 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
5. "Unicode 14.0.0". www.unicode.org. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
6. "bishi的空间" (in Chinese). 24 October 2014. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014.
7. Laurent Sagart: The Roots of Old Chinese. (Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science, Series IV, Volume 184) John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia 1999. ISBN   90-272-3690-9, S. 142–147; W. A. C. H. Dobson: Early Archaic Chinese. A Descriptive Grammar. University of Toronto Press, Toronto 1962, S. 112–114.
8. Ancient Chinese reconstructions according to Baxter and Sagart Archived 27 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine .
9. Note: The specified forms represent only a small selection.
10. Note: Middle Chinese pronunciations given in Baxter's notation.
11. Shi, Q.-S. (2016). Personal Pronouns in Southern Min Dialect. In P.-H. Ting et al. (Eds.). New Horizons in the Study of Chinese: Dialectology, Grammar, and Philology (pp. 181–190). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.
12. Mataro J. Hashimoto: The Hakka Dialect. A linguistic study of Its Phonology, Syntax and Lexicon. University Press, Cambridge 1973. ISBN   0-521-20037-7
13. Hakka Affairs Council. (2017). Vocabulary Words for the Hakka Proficiency Test: Elementary (Sixian Dialect) [客語能力認證基本辭彙-初級(四縣腔)]. Retrieved from https://elearning.hakka.gov.tw/ver2015

Bibliography

• Kane, Daniel (2006). The Chinese Language: Its History and Usage. North Clarendon, VT: Tuttle. ISBN   0-8048-3853-4. OCLC   77522617.
• Sun, Chaofen (2006). Chinese: A Linguistic Introduction . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.  166–169. ISBN   0-521-82380-3. OCLC   70671780.
• Yip, Po-Ching; Rimmington, Don (2004). Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar . London; New York: Routledge. pp.  47–58. ISBN   978-0-415-15031-6. OCLC   52178249.