🇨🇳 Chinese (Mandarin)
中文 • Han
Pronouns you actually use (I / you / we)
Choose the right ‘you’, and get comfortable with the most common pronoun patterns.
What to know
These are the patterns that matter most at beginner level.
- 你 = you (informal/neutral). 您 = you (polite).
- Mandarin is SVO and topic-friendly; time/place often come early.
- Verbs don’t conjugate by person/tense — time words and particles do the work.
你好吗？
Nǐ hǎo ma
How are you?
您好。
Nín hǎo
Hello (polite).
我在这里。
Wǒ zài zhèlǐ
I am here.
我想要水。
Wǒ xiǎng yào shuǐ
I want water.
我不懂。
Wǒ bù dǒng
I don't understand.
你会说英语吗？
Nǐ huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma
Do you speak English?
厕所在哪里？
Cèsuǒ zài nǎlǐ
Where is the bathroom?
这是我的朋友。
Zhè shì wǒ de péngyou
This is my friend.
Practice tip
Take one sentence and swap the subject: I → you → we.
- Say it slowly first, then at normal speed.
- If the verb changes, learn the ‘you’ form as a pair.
Mini‑quiz
Mini-quiz
1/8 • Score: 0
Which sentence matches “How are you?”?