你 (nǐ): you
你 (nǐ) is a Chinese character meaning “you.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亻 (structural) and 尔 (structural). It ranks #32 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 你 pronoun 尔 for a person 亻. Its radical form 亻 (person) appears in many related characters such as 人 (rén, person), 什 (shén, what), 今 (jīn, now).
Definitions
- you
Etymology & Origin
ideographicPronoun 尔 for a person 亻
Decomposition: ⿰亻尔 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 你 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 你
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 迷你adjective | mí nǐ | (loanword) mini- |
| 你死我活phrase | nǐ sǐ wǒ huó | lit. you die, I live (idiom) |
| 迷你裙noun | mí nǐ qún | miniskirt |
| 你争我夺 | nǐ zhēng wǒ duó | lit. you fight, I snatch (idiom) |
| 你追我赶 | nǐ zhuī wǒ gǎn | friendly one-upmanship |
| 你我pronoun | nǐ wǒ | you and I |
| 去你的interjection | qù nǐ de | Get along with you! |
| 有人想你 | yǒu rén xiǎng nǐ | Bless you! (after a sneeze) |
| 真有你的 | zhēn yǒu nǐ de | You're really quite something! |
| 你个头phrase | nǐ ge tóu | (coll.) my ass! |
| 你真行 | nǐ zhēn xíng | you're incredible (often an ironic expression of vexation, but can also express approbation) |
| 你等pronoun | nǐ děng | (archaic) you all |
| 走你 | zǒu nǐ | (neologism c. 2012) (interjection of encouragement) Let’s do this! |
| 你看着办吧 | nǐ kàn zhe bàn ba | You figure it out for yourself. |
| 你情我愿phrase | nǐ qíng wǒ yuàn | to both be willing |
你 appears in 36 compound words: 36 as the first character, 11 as the last, and 53 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 你 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (4)
lit. you fight, I snatch (idiom); to compete fiercely offering no quarter; fierce rivalry; tug-of-war
Example Sentences
你的建议很有价值，我们会在下次会议上讨论这个问题。
Nǐ de jiànyì hěn yǒu jiàzhí, wǒmen huì zài xià cì huìyì shang tǎolùn zhè gè wèntí.
Your suggestion is very valuable; we will discuss this issue at the next meeting.
没有你想的那么光鲜 有些冬奥选手已私下在做一事
méi yǒu nǐ xiǎng de nà má guāng xiān yǒu xiē dōng ào xuǎn shǒu yǐ sī xià zài zuò yī shì
Not as glamorous as you think Some Winter Olympians are already doing something in private
【新闻点评】2026年你眼中的中国经济
xīn wén diǎn píng 2 0 2 6 nián nǐ yǎn zhōng de zhōng guó jīng jì
【News Comments】China's economy in your eyes in 2026
你还是曾经那个少年!苏翊鸣斩获中国队首金
nǐ hái shì céng jīng nā gě shǎo nián ! sū 翊 míng zhǎn huò zhōng guó duì shǒu jīn
You're still the same teenager! Su Yiming wins China's first gold.
春节假期拍了拍你,出门揣一份“安心”更踏实
chūn jié jiǎ qī pāi le pāi nǐ , chū mén chuāi yī fèn ān xīn gēng tà shí
Spring Festival vacation pat you, go out and put a "peace of mind" more solid
「春节在岗职工电台」敬你的坚守,敬你的努力!
chūn jié zài gāng zhí gōng diàn tái jìng nǐ de jiān shǒu , jìng nǐ de nǔ lì !
"Spring Festival On-Duty Workers Radio" To your dedication, to your hard work!
你好！我叫汤姆。你叫什么？
Nǐhǎo! wǒ jiào Tāngmǔ. nǐ jiào shénme?
Hi, my name's Tom. What's yours?
你能猜到我的年龄吗？
Nǐ néng cāi dào wǒ de niánlíng ma?
Can you guess my age?
我能借用你的剪刀吗？
Wǒ néng jièyòng nǐ de jiǎndāo ma?
Can I borrow your scissors?
你为什么来了日本？
Nǐ wèishénme lái le Rìběn?
Why did you come to Japan?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 你 (nǐ) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 你 have?
What is the radical of 你?
What are the components of 你?
What are common words containing 你?
What characters sound the same as 你 (nǐ)?
Is 你 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 你 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.