他 (tā): he

他 (tā) is a Chinese character meaning “he.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亻 (structural) and 也 (structural). It ranks #10 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 他 an additional, "also" 也  person 亻. Its radical form 亻 (person) appears in many related characters such as 人 (rén, person), 什 (shén, what), 今 (jīn, now).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. he

Etymology & Origin

他

ideographicAn additional, "also" 也  person 亻

Decomposition: ⿰亻也 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

Practice writing 他 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 他

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
他们pronountā menthey1
其他pronounqí tāother3
他人pronountā rénanother person5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
他妈的phrasetā mā de(taboo curse) damn it!
吉他nounjí tā(loanword) guitar
维他命nounwéi tā mìng(loanword) vitamin
犹他州yóu tā zhōuUtah
犹他proper-nounyóu tāUtah
安非他明nounān fēi tā míngamphetamine (loanword)
他用nountā yòngother use
他乡nountā xiāngforeign land
他国nountā guóanother country
异国他乡phraseyì guó tā xiāngforeign lands and places (idiom)
马耳他proper-nounmǎ ěr tāMalta
利他林lì tā línRitalin (brand name)
他日nountā rì(literary) some day
排他性pái tā xìngexclusiveness
马尔他proper-nounmǎ ěr tāMalta (Tw)
77
Total compounds
27
As first character
23
As last character
49
As middle character

他 appears in 77 compound words: 27 as the first character, 23 as the last, and 49 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 他 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

们men
0.547337,288 co-occurrences
其qí
0.505925,676 co-occurrences
在zài
0.437544,490 co-occurrences
的de
0.4191,042,684 co-occurrences
还hái
0.41152,276 co-occurrences
让ràng
0.40222,990 co-occurrences
曾céng
0.39990,098 co-occurrences
把bǎ
0.39940,448 co-occurrences
认rèn
0.39443,138 co-occurrences
是shì
0.392329,350 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

安非他命ānfēitāmìngHSK 4+

amphetamine

noun
北达科他Běi-DákētāHSK 4+

North Dakota (a state in the Upper Midwest region of the United States)

别无他法bié wú tā fǎHSK 4+

there is no alternative

phrase
假手他人jiǎshǒutārénHSK 3+

to get one's own task done by somebody else

phrase
客死他乡kèsǐtāxiāngHSK 4+

to die in a foreign land

phrase
利他主义lìtā zhǔyìHSK 5+

altruism

noun
马尔他语Mǎ'ěrtāyǔHSK 4+

alternative form of 馬耳他語 /马耳他语 (Mǎ'ěrtāyǔ, “Maltese”)

南达科他Nán-DákētāHSK 4+

South Dakota (a state in the Upper Midwest region of the United States)

他加禄语Tājiālùyǔ

the Tagalog language

异国他乡yìguótāxiāngHSK 6+

foreign countries or lands; far away from one's native place

phrase
巽他海峡Xùntā HǎixiáHSK 7+

Sunda Strait (a strait in Indonesia)

巽他群岛Xùntā QúndǎoHSK 6+

Sunda Islands

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他是我们部门最资深的工程师,有十五年的工作经验。

Tā shì wǒmen bùmén zuì zīshēn de gōngchéngshī, yǒu shíwǔ nián de gōngzuò jīngyàn.

He is the most senior engineer in our department with fifteen years of work experience.

百度新闻Feb 2026

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:

百度新闻Feb 2026

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...

百度新闻Feb 2026

坐拥百万粉丝的他,为何归零重启,一头扎进金山田野?

zuò yōng bǎi mò fěn sī de tā , wéi hé guī líng chóng qǐ , yī tóu zhā jìn jīn shān tián yě ?

He has millions of followers, why did he go back to zero and reboot, headlong into the Jinshan field?

百度新闻Feb 2026

「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...

百度新闻Feb 2026

“希望老百姓安宁幸福” 他的新春愿望和冬窝子的雪一..

xī wàng lǎo bǎi xìng ān nìng xìng fú tā de xīn chūn yuàn wàng hé dōng wō zǐ de xuě yī . .

"I wish the people peace and happiness." His wish for the New Year is the same as the snow in the winter harbor...

Tatoeba

你叔叔让你开他的车了吗?

Nǐ shūshu ràng nǐ kāi tā de chē le ma?

Did your uncle let you drive his car?

Tatoeba

真的吗?他是什么时候走的?

Zhēn de ma? tā shì shénme shíhou zǒu de?

Oh, really? When did he leave?

Tatoeba

他从什么地方来的?

Tā cóng shénmedìfang lái de?

Where does he come from?

Tatoeba

他是我的朋友。你们认识吗?

Tā shì wǒ de péngyou. nǐmen rènshi ma?

He's my friend. Do you know him?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced tā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 他 (tā) mean in Chinese?
他 (tā) primarily means "he." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #10 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 他 have?
他 is written with 5 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 他?
The radical associated with 他 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are the components of 他?
他 is composed of: 亻 (structural), 也 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻也 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 他?
Common words with 他 include: 他们 (tā men, "they"); 其他 (qí tā, "other"); 他妈的 (tā mā de, "(taboo curse) damn it!"); 他人 (tā rén, "another person"); 吉他 (jí tā, "(loanword) guitar"). There are over 77 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 他 (tā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation tā: 她 (she), 它 (it), 塔 (pagoda (abbr. for 塔婆, a loanword from Sanskrit stūpa)), 踏 (to step, to tread), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 他 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 他 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 他 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.