Chinese pronouns
Encyclopedia
Chinese pronouns differ somewhat from their English
counterparts. For instance, there is no differentiation between "he", "she" and "it", though a written difference was introduced after contact with the West, and with the exception of the reflexive self, pronouns remain the same 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
de. Some honorifics
exist in the language, but modern Chinese, especially in the spoken language, lacks the levels of respect of Japanese
.
Originally, Chinese had no distinction for gender or animacy
in the second- and third-person pronouns; in the spoken language, they remain undifferentiated. Separate characters were created in response to contact with the West and its gender- and animacy-indicating pronouns. Attempts to introduce audibly different forms for she (yī) and it (tuō) in the first half of the 20th century were unsuccessful.
Traditional Chinese character
s maintain several pronouns that in simplified Characters
have been merged together. The traditional system has both masculine and feminine forms of "you" ( and ), although this distinction is not always maintained in writing anymore; in the simplified system, only is used (sometimes also use in simplified Chinese in some contexts). 祢 mí, a second person pronoun, is sometimes used for addressing deities. The traditional system also has three neuter third-person pronouns, (tā) for animals, for deities, and for inanimate objects, but, again, this distinction is sometimes blurred in actual usage; in simplified Chinese, is used in place of .
Third-person pronouns see less use in Chinese than in English, and overuse of tā by learners of the language is seen as undesirable. This is especially true when discussing inanimate entities, which are usually referred to as 'this' and 'that' instead.
The collective pronouns are formed by simply adding (simplified)/ (traditional
) mén to the end of each pronoun; thus, , , , or , , /// would mean "you [plural]", "we" and "they" respectively.
The pronoun nín is used as a formal version of the second person pronoun, but does not have a feminine variant, and is not used in the plural.
The pronouns ǎn and ǒu are often used in Mandarin to mean "I". They are of dialectal origins, once spoken by the stereotypical country-side commoner. However, their usage is gaining popularity among the young, most notably in online communications.
There exist many more pronouns in Classical Chinese
and in literary works, including (rǔ) or (ěr) for "you", and (wú) for "I" (see Chinese honorifics
). However, they are not encountered in colloquial speech.
There are also various dialectal variants of pronouns, such as Taiwanese Minnan 汝 for "you", and Written Cantonese
佢哋 (keúih deih) for "they".
or in some daily phrases (especially ones about family or concepts very close to the owner) this is often omitted, e.g. (wǒ mā); is a synonym for (wǒ de māmā, "my mother"). For old generations, (ling) is the equivalent modern form (ninde), as in (lingzun) "Your father." In literary style, (qí) is sometimes used for "his" or "her"; e.g., means "his father" or "her father".
In regards to dialectals, in Taiwanese Minnan the character for "your" is 恁 ; 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
.
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 during early Chinese history
and zhèn after the Qin dynasty
when the Emperor
is speaking to his subjects. When the subjects speak to the Emperor, they address themselves as (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 résumé
s, the term (guì; lit. noble) is used for "you" and "your"; e.g., refers to "your company". (běn rén; lit. this person) is used to refer to oneself.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
counterparts. For instance, there is no differentiation between "he", "she" and "it", though a written difference was introduced after contact with the West, and with the exception of the reflexive self, pronouns remain the same 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
Chinese particles
In classical Chinese philology, words are divided into two classes: the shízì and the xūzì . The former include what modern linguists call verbs, nouns, and adjectives, while the latter includes what modern linguists call particles. Opinions differ as to which category pronouns and adverbs belong to...
de. Some honorifics
Chinese honorifics
Chinese honorifics were developed due to class consciousness and Confucian principles of order and respect in Ancient and Imperial China. The Chinese polite language also affects Japanese honorifics conceptually; both emphasized the idea of classes and in-group vs. out-group. So the language used...
exist in the language, but modern Chinese, especially in the spoken language, lacks the levels of respect of Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
.
Personal pronouns
| Person | Singular | Plural* | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First person | wǒ I, me |
Exclusive | Inclusive† | |||||
| 我们 wǒmen we, us |
zánmen we, us |
|||||||
| Second person | Informal | Polite | nǐmen you |
|||||
| nǐ you |
nín you |
|||||||
| Third person | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | ||
| tā he, him |
tā she, her |
tā it |
tāmen they, them |
tāmen they, them |
它们 tāmen they, them |
|||
* The character to indicate plurality is 們 (men) in Traditional Chinese characters.- †Used to indicate 'you and I' (two people) only; in all other cases wǒmen is used. This form has fallen into disuse outside Beijing.
Originally, Chinese had no distinction for gender or animacy
Animacy
Animacy is a grammatical and/or semantic category of nouns based on how sentient or alive the referent of the noun in a given taxonomic scheme is...
in the second- and third-person pronouns; in the spoken language, they remain undifferentiated. Separate characters were created in response to contact with the West and its gender- and animacy-indicating pronouns. Attempts to introduce audibly different forms for she (yī) and it (tuō) in the first half of the 20th century were unsuccessful.
Traditional Chinese character
Traditional Chinese character
Traditional Chinese characters refers to Chinese characters in any character set which does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. It most commonly refers to characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong, or in the Kangxi...
s maintain several pronouns that in simplified Characters
Simplified Chinese character
Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Xiandai Hanyu Tongyong Zibiao for use in Mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of many standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language...
have been merged together. The traditional system has both masculine and feminine forms of "you" ( and ), although this distinction is not always maintained in writing anymore; in the simplified system, only is used (sometimes also use in simplified Chinese in some contexts). 祢 mí, a second person pronoun, is sometimes used for addressing deities. The traditional system also has three neuter third-person pronouns, (tā) for animals, for deities, and for inanimate objects, but, again, this distinction is sometimes blurred in actual usage; in simplified Chinese, is used in place of .
Third-person pronouns see less use in Chinese than in English, and overuse of tā by learners of the language is seen as undesirable. This is especially true when discussing inanimate entities, which are usually referred to as 'this' and 'that' instead.
The collective pronouns are formed by simply adding (simplified)/ (traditional
Traditional Chinese character
Traditional Chinese characters refers to Chinese characters in any character set which does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. It most commonly refers to characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong, or in the Kangxi...
) mén to the end of each pronoun; thus, , , , or , , /// would mean "you [plural]", "we" and "they" respectively.
The pronoun nín is used as a formal version of the second person pronoun, but does not have a feminine variant, and is not used in the plural.
The pronouns ǎn and ǒu are often used in Mandarin to mean "I". They are of dialectal origins, once spoken by the stereotypical country-side commoner. However, their usage is gaining popularity among the young, most notably in online communications.
There exist many more pronouns in Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese...
and in literary works, including (rǔ) or (ěr) for "you", and (wú) for "I" (see Chinese honorifics
Chinese honorifics
Chinese honorifics were developed due to class consciousness and Confucian principles of order and respect in Ancient and Imperial China. The Chinese polite language also affects Japanese honorifics conceptually; both emphasized the idea of classes and in-group vs. out-group. So the language used...
). However, they are not encountered in colloquial speech.
There are also various dialectal variants of pronouns, such as Taiwanese Minnan 汝 for "you", and Written Cantonese
Written Cantonese
Cantonese has the most well-developed written form of all Chinese varieties apart from the standard varieties of Mandarin and Classical Chinese. Standard written Chinese is based on Mandarin, but when spoken word for word as Cantonese, it sounds unnatural because its expressions are ungrammatical...
佢哋 (keúih deih) for "they".
The possessive pronoun
To indicate possession (de) is appended to the pronoun. In literatureLiterature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
or in some daily phrases (especially ones about family or concepts very close to the owner) this is often omitted, e.g. (wǒ mā); is a synonym for (wǒ de māmā, "my mother"). For old generations, (ling) is the equivalent modern form (ninde), as in (lingzun) "Your father." In literary style, (qí) is sometimes used for "his" or "her"; e.g., means "his father" or "her father".
In regards to dialectals, in Taiwanese Minnan the character for "your" is 恁 ; 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
Vernacular Chinese
Written Vernacular Chinese refers to forms of written Chinese based on the vernacular language, in contrast to Classical Chinese, the written standard used from the Spring and Autumn Period to the early twentieth century...
.
The reflexive pronoun
The singular personal pronouns (for humans) may be made reflexive by appending zìjǐ, "self".Pronouns in imperial times and self-deprecatory
- See also Chinese honorificsChinese honorificsChinese honorifics were developed due to class consciousness and Confucian principles of order and respect in Ancient and Imperial China. The Chinese polite language also affects Japanese honorifics conceptually; both emphasized the idea of classes and in-group vs. out-group. So the language used...
.
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 during early Chinese history
History of China
Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...
and zhèn after the Qin dynasty
Qin Dynasty
The Qin Dynasty was the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BC. The Qin state derived its name from its heartland of Qin, in modern-day Shaanxi. The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, during the Warring...
when the Emperor
Emperor of China
The Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of Qin Dynasty of China, united by the King of Qin in 221 BCE, and the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title that predates the Qin unification, the...
is speaking to his subjects. When the subjects speak to the Emperor, they address themselves as (chén), or "your official". It was extremely impolite and taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
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 résumé
Résumé
A résumé is a document used by individuals to present their background and skillsets. Résumés can be used for a variety of reasons but most often to secure new employment. A typical résumé contains a summary of relevant job experience and education...
s, the term (guì; lit. noble) is used for "you" and "your"; e.g., refers to "your company". (běn rén; lit. this person) is used to refer to oneself.