Chinese Pronouns and the Particle 的 (de): Saying 'My', 'Your' and 'His'

Mandarin pronouns are short, regular and free of case changes: 我 is "I" and "me", 他 is "he" and "him". The one small complication is possession, which uses the particle 的.

The personal pronouns

• 我 (wǒ) — I, me
• 你 (nǐ) — you
• 您 (nín) — you (polite)
• 他 (tā) — he, him
• 她 (tā) — she, her
• 它 (tā) — it

All three third-person pronouns sound identical, so spoken Chinese doesn't distinguish gender. The written characters differ: 他 has the person radical, 她 the woman radical, 它 the roof radical.

Plurals with 们

Add 们 (men) to make plural pronouns:

• 我们 (wǒmen) — we
• 你们 (nǐmen) — you (plural)
• 他们 / 她们 (tāmen) — they

咱们 (zánmen) means "we" including the listener, in contrast to 我们, which may exclude them.

Polite 您

您 is used to show respect to elders, customers, teachers and superiors. It has no standard plural in everyday use; 您几位 is used for a group.

Possession with 的

Add 的 (de) after a pronoun or noun to show possession:

• 我的书 (wǒ de shū) — my book
• 你的手机 (nǐ de shǒujī) — your phone
• 老师的车 (lǎoshī de chē) — the teacher's car

When to drop 的

With close relationships, 的 is usually dropped:

• 我妈妈 (wǒ māma) — my mother
• 我朋友 (wǒ péngyou) — my friend
• 我们公司 (wǒmen gōngsī) — our company

You can add 的 for emphasis, but you don't need to.

的 links other modifiers

的 also joins adjectives, clauses and phrases to nouns:

• 漂亮的衣服 (piàoliang de yīfu) — pretty clothes
• 我昨天买的书 (wǒ zuótiān mǎi de shū) — the book I bought yesterday

Dropping 的 with adjectives

With simple, one-syllable adjectives, 的 may be dropped: 好人 (hǎo rén, a good person), 大房子 (a big house).

Standing alone

的 can replace the noun: 这本书是我的。 (Zhè běn shū shì wǒ de.) — This book is mine.

Names and titles

Address people by surname plus title: 王老师 (Teacher Wang), 李经理 (Manager Li), 张先生 (Mr Zhang).

Practice

1. Write ten possessive phrases with your family and belongings.
2. Note where you'd drop 的.
3. Use 您 in a polite request.
4. Look up any new words in a dictionary.

Look up pronouns and everyday words with English Chinese Dictionary →