Hokkien pronouns

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Pronoun
Hàn-jī 代名詞
Pe̍h-ōe-jī Tāi-bêng-sû
Tâi-lô tāi-bîng-sû
Bbánpìng dâibbíngsú

Hokkien pronouns pose some difficulty to speakers of English due to their complexity. The Hokkien language use a variety of differing demonstrative and interrogative pronouns, and many of them are only with slightly different meanings.

Contents

Basic personal pronouns

The plural personal pronouns tend to be nasalized forms of the singular ones.

SingularPlural
Chinese charactervernacular / colloquialliteraryChinese charactervernacular / colloquialliterary
First persongóangó͘goán / gún (exclusive)-
án (possessive determiner)-lán (inclusive)-
Second personlín-
Third personii𪜶in-

List of Hokkien personal pronouns

Pe̍h-ōe-jī Hàn-jī Level of speechGender Grammatical number Notes
– first person –
chū-kí自己formal, writtenneutralsingular
góaformal / informalneutralsingular
góa-lâng我儂informalneutralplural儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
goánformal / informalneutralpluralExclusive
gúninformalfemales, rarely malessingular阮 (gún only, not goán) is typically used in Taiwanese Hokkien lyrics.
goáninformalneutralsingular
ka-kī家己formal / informalneutralsingular
ka-kī-lâng家己儂informalneutralplural儂 (-lâng) is suffixed for plural. Here, it is not only used in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects, but also in Chinese Hokkien and Taiwanese Hokkien. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
kò-jîn個人formalneutralsingular
lánformal / informalneutralpluralInclusive
lán-lâng咱儂informalneutralplural儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
lânginformalneutralsingularIt originally means "person".
lín-chó͘-má恁祖媽very informal, rudefemalessingularIt originally means "your grandmother".
lín-pē恁父very informal, rudemalessingularIt originally means "your father".
ngó͘吾 / 我formal, writtenneutralsingular
sió-seng小生formal, writtenmalessingular
– second person –
chiok-hā足下formal, writtenmalessingular
koh-hā閣下formal, writtenmalessingular
kunformal, writtenmalessingular
formal / informalneutralsingular
línformal / informalneutralplural
lín-lâng恁儂informalneutralplural儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
– third person –
iformal / informalneutralsingular
i-lâng伊儂informalneutralplural儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
in𪜶formal / informalneutralplural
lânginformalneutralsingularIt originally means "person".

Archaic personal pronouns

Pe̍h-ōe-jī Hàn-jī Level of speechGenderMeaningNotes
chhiap-sin妾身formalfemalesIIt means "concubine" or "mistress". It is seldom used in modern societies.
pē-hā陛下formal, writtenneutral, emperors, kings, queensYou
tiān-hā殿下formal, writtenneutral, princes, princessesYou

Suffixes

Suffixes are added to pronouns to make them plural.

Pe̍h-ōe-jī Hàn-jī Level of speechGenderExamplesNotes
lânginformalneutral
  • 我儂, góa-lâng (we)
  • 家己儂, ka-kī-lâng (we)
  • 咱儂, lán-lâng (we)
  • 恁儂, lín-lâng (you)
  • 伊儂, i-lâng (they)
儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects,
but some of them like ka-kī-lâng (we) is also used in Chinese and Taiwanese Hokkien.

Demonstrative and interrogative pronouns

Usually, Hokkien pronouns are prefixed with ch- for thing or things near the speaker, and h- for one or ones distant from the speaker.

Pe̍h-ōe-jī Hàn-jī Meaning
che此 / 即 / 這this thing (near the speaker)
he彼 / 許that thing (distant from the speaker)
tó-chi̍t-ê佗一个which thing(s)?
chit-ê此个 / 即个 / 這个this (near the speaker)
chia-ê遮个these (near the speaker)
hit-ê彼个 / 許个that (distant from the speaker)
hia-ê遐个those (distant from the speaker)
chiahere (near the speaker)
hiathere (distant from the speaker)
tó-ūi佗位where

See also

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