Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

Pronouns

5.2

5.2.2 The inclusive pronoun 咱们/咱們 zánmen ‘we’

The inclusive pronoun 咱们/咱們 zánmen ‘we’ is used in northern dialects of Mandarin.

咱们/咱們 zánmen ‘we’ refers to the speaker, other people associated with the speaker, and

to the addressee. When a speaker uses 咱们/咱們 zánmen ‘we’ as the subject, he or she includes

you in the remarks.

咱们都是自己人。

咱們都是自己人。

Zánmen dōu shì zìjǐ rén.

We are all family. (We, including you, are all one family.)

‘Inclusive’ 咱们/咱們 zánmen contrasts with an ‘exclusive’ use of ‘we’ that is associated with

我们/我們 wǒmen. In the exclusive sense, 我们/我們 wǒmen refers to the speaker and others

associated with the speaker but not to the addressee.

我们欢迎你。

我們歡迎你。

Wǒmen huānyíng nǐ.

We welcome you.

咱们/咱們 zánmen only has the inclusive meaning. In addition, 咱们/咱們 zánmen is only

used as subject, and never as object.

我们/我們 wǒmen can have either inclusive or exclusive meaning and it occurs as subject and

object. It is much more commonly used than 咱们/咱們 zánmen.

5.2.3 Modification of pronouns

Pronouns represent an entire noun phrase. Therefore, in general, they are not further

modified. However, Mandarin has a small number of literary expressions in which the pronoun

is modified:

可怜的我

可憐的我

kělián de wǒ

poor me

美丽的她

美麗的她

měilì de tā

pretty her

善良的高老师

善良的高老師

shànliáng de Gāo lǎoshī

good-hearted professor Gao

5.2.4 Possession involving pronouns

Mandarin does not have possessive pronouns. The meaning of possessive pronouns is conveyed

by pronoun + 的 de.

我的朋友

wǒ de péngyou

my friend

他的小狗

tā de xiáogǒu

his puppy