们 (men): plural marker
们 (men) is a Chinese character meaning “plural marker.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亻 (semantic) and 门 (phonetic). It ranks #13 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 们 people. Its radical form 亻 (person) appears in many related characters such as 人 (rén, person), 什 (shén, what), 今 (jīn, now).
Definitions
- plural marker
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 们 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 们
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 我们pronoun | wǒ men | we | 1 |
| 他们pronoun | tā men | they | 1 |
| 你们pronoun | nǐ men | you (plural) | 1 |
| 它们pronoun | tā men | they | 1 |
| 她们pronoun | tā men | they | 1 |
| 咱们pronoun | zán men | we or us (including both the speaker and the person(s) spoken to) | 3 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 人们 | rén men | people |
| 哥们 | gē men | Brothers! |
| 哥们儿 | gē men r | erhua variant of 哥們|哥们[ge1 men5] |
| 爷们 | yé men | menfolk (collective term for men of different generations) |
| 娘儿们 | niáng r men | (dialect) woman |
| 图们 | tú mén | see 圖們市|图们市[Tu2 men2 Shi4] |
| 孩子们 | hái zi men | children |
| 亲们 | qīn men | darlings |
| 亚们 | yà men | Amon (son of Manasseh) |
| 阿们 | ā men | (loanword) amen |
| 图们市 | tú mén shì | Tumen, a county-level city in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture 延邊朝鮮族自治州|延边朝鲜族自治州[Yan2 bian1 Chao2 xian3 zu2 Zi4 z... |
| 爷们儿 | yé men r | erhua variant of 爺們|爷们[ye2 men5] |
| 铁哥们儿 | tiě gē men r | erhua variant of 鐵哥們|铁哥们[tie3 ge1 men5] |
| 图们江 | tú mén jiāng | Tumen river in Jilin province 吉林省, forming the eastern border between China and North Korea |
| 铁哥们 | tiě gē men | (coll.) very close male friends |
们 appears in 22 compound words: 0 as the first character, 77 as the last, and 23 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 们 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
我们团队有十个人，分别负责不同的模块开发。
Wǒmen tuánduì yǒu shí gè rén, fēnbié fùzé bùtóng de mókuài kāifā.
Our team has ten people, each responsible for different module development.
不到30小时连夺3金!他们的每一滴热泪,都写着“值..
bù dào 3 0 xiǎo shí lián duó 3 jīn ! tā men de měi yī dī rè lèi , dōu xiě zhe zhí . .
Win 3 gold medals in less than 30 hours! Every tear they shed was written "Value:
在这个时代,他们还在用手一点点“搓”出光丨新春走基..
zài zhè gě shí dài , tā men hái zài yòng shǒu yī diǎn diǎn cuō chū guāng 丨 xīn chūn zǒu jī . .
In this era, they are still using their hands to rub out the light 丨新春走基...
「新春走基层」他们不是不恋家,只是西沙这扇“南天门..
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng tā men bù shì bù liàn jiā , zhī shì xī shā zhè shān nán tiān mén . .
New Year's Journey to the grassroots level" It's not that they don't love their home, but the "Southern Heavenly Gate" of Xisha...
...场外音丨金雷:中国队冬奥“现原形”?让我们..
. . . chǎng wài yīn 丨 jīn léi zhōng guó duì dōng ào xiàn yuán xíng ? ràng wǒ men . .
... The Chinese team's winter Olympics are a big deal, but it's not a big deal for the Chinese. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to do that.
动物们吃上定制“年夜饭”
dòng wù men chī shǎng dìng zhì nián yè fàn
Animals have customized "New Year's Eve dinner"
我回来了！啊？有人来看我们吗？
Wǒ huílai le! ǎ? Yǒu rén lái kàn wǒmen ma?
I'm back! Oh? Have we got a guest?
他们都是一样的吗？
Tāmen dōu shì yīyàng de ma?
Are they all the same?
我们什么时候到达？
Wǒmen shénmeshíhou dàodá?
When do we arrive?
我们今晚出去吃怎么样？
Wǒmen jīnwǎn chūqù chī zěnmeyàng?
How about dining out tonight?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 们 (men) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 们 and 问?
How many strokes does 们 have?
What is the radical of 们?
What are the components of 们?
What are common words containing 们?
What characters sound the same as 们 (men)?
Is 们 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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