Chinese Pronouns

"Maria's new Aston Martin DB5 is wonderful. The Aston Martin DB5 handles like a dream, and the Aston Martin DB5 can hit 60mph in just 3 seconds. Maria loves the Aston Martin DB5."

See how clumsy and long that is?

Well, that's where pronouns come in.

Resources for further reading:

• Learn Chinese online the simple way
• Chinese for beginners

With pronouns you only need to use the object's actual name once; and subject's not at all! From then on you can use pronouns like I, my, and it instead...

"My new Aston Martin DB5 is wonderful. It handles like a dream, and it can hit 60mph in just 3 seconds. I love it."

Much better.

Pronouns are words that are used in place of a noun. They can be the subject, the object, or complement. In Chinese, there are different kinds of Chinese pronouns.

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns substitute for the noun without repeating it. They can be divided into:

• personal subject pronouns, which are used in place of the subject
• personal direct pronouns, used in place of the object personal
• indirect pronouns, used in place of the complement
• reflexive pronouns, in connection with the reflexive verbs.

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns, that indicate the possession; they have the same form of the adjective possessive:

那个房子是我的 Nàge fángzi shì wǒde。- The house is mine.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns show the position in the space and in the time.

那个房子是我的 Nàge fángzi shì wǒde。 - That house is mine.

Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns, that don't specify the identity of the person or of the object.

有人打过电话 Yǒurén dǎguò diànhuà。- Someone called.

Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative pronouns, that introduce questions:

Personal Subject Pronouns:

In Chinese there are 10 personal subject pronouns: 5 for the singular, 5 for the plural.

Forms:

For example:

Direct Object Pronouns

In English, there are direct object pronouns, pronouns that directly receive the action of the verb. They answer the question what, or whom, like “me” “him” or “her”. In Chinese, direct object pronouns are the same words as subject pronouns. That is to say, “I” is “我” in Chinese, and “me” is also “我”. It is also the same case with words like “he/him” and “she/her” and “they/them”.

Reflexive pronoun

Reflexive pronouns are used in connection with reflexive verbs, in which the action reflects itself on the subject. When we want to express meanings like that, we put reflexive pronoun 自己 zìjǐ after the pronouns we have covered today.

Formal 您 nín and Informal 你 nǐ

In Chinese, there are two pronouns to refer to “you”, depending on the situation. If it is a formal occasion, people tend to use formal pronoun 您 nín, 您们 nínmen, whereas on ordinary occasions or in daily communication, their informal equivalents 你 nǐ and 你们 nǐmen are used.

Chinese pronouns summary

• Personal pronouns substitute without repeating the common or proper nouns. They can be divided in personal subject pronouns, personal direct pronouns, personal indirect pronouns and reflexive pronoun
• Possessive pronouns indicate possession
• Demonstrative pronouns show position in space and time
• Indefinite pronouns, are used when we don't need to specify the identity of the person or object
• Relative pronouns relate more propositions
• Interrogative pronouns introduce questions
• Direct and indirect pronouns have two forms, according to the position they have in the sentence
• Reflexive pronouns are always used in connection with a reflexive verb
• Formal and informal is not a matter of tradition in Chinese, but an important form of respect. Never say 你 nǐ, you, to your boss or an older genlteman!

That's it for this lesson.

Here are a few recommended Chinese lessons to try next!

• How the Chinese verbs work.
• Shopping is much easier if you know your clothes in Chinese!
• Describing the colors in Chinese is essential to spice up your conversational skills.

回头见！Huítóu jiàn!

Lin Ping: Rocket Chinese