Meaning
you
Chinese: 第二人称代词。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “ni” becomes a different word in each tone. 你 is the 3rd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 你们nǐ menyou (plural)
- 你我nǐ wǒyou and I; everyone; all of us (in society); we (people in general)
- 去你的qù nǐ deGet along with you!
- 你好nǐ hǎohello; hi
- 有人想你yǒu rén xiǎng nǐBless you! (after a sneeze)
Example Sentence
你今天过得怎么样？Nǐ jīn tiān guò de zěn me yàng?How was your day today?
你Nǐyou今天jīn tiāntoday过得guò deHow are you getting by?怎么样zěn me yànghow?？
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
A person (亻) plus 尔, which gives the sound. It is the second-person pronoun ‘you’.
A way to remember it
Person + 尔 — the ‘you’ across from me.
Easy to confuse with
- 他‘He’: also a person radical, but paired with 也, not 尔.