HSK 1

English Meaning

📚 Example Sentences

他好。
Tā hǎo.
He is good.
他是人。
Tā shì rén.
He is a person.
他有猫。
Tā yǒu māo.
He has a cat.
他是我最好的朋友。
Tā shì wǒ zuì hǎo de péngyou.
He is my best friend.
我昨天在商店看见了他。
Wǒ zuótiān zài shāngdiàn kànjiàn le tā.
I saw him at the store yesterday.

💡 Memory Tip

Think of 他 as having the 'person' radical (亻) on the left, which visually represents a person, helping associate it with 'he' or 'him'. The right part (也) can be remembered as 'also'—implying 'also a person'.

📝 Usage Notes

他 is neutral in tone and used in both formal and informal contexts, as well as in spoken and written Chinese. It is commonly used in everyday conversation, narratives, and writing to refer to a male subject. In modern usage, it can sometimes be used generically to mean 'they' when gender is unknown, though 他们 (tāmen) is more standard for plural.

📖 Grammar Points

他 is used as a subject, object, or possessive (with 的, as in 他的). It does not change form based on grammatical role. In sentences, it typically precedes verbs, as in 他工作 (he works).

🏯 Cultural Notes

In traditional Chinese, 他 was often used as a gender-neutral pronoun, but modern usage has evolved with 她 for females and 它 for objects. In informal contexts, 他 might still be used generically, reflecting historical norms. There is ongoing discussion about gender-inclusive language in Chinese.

🔄 Similar Words

他 is similar to 她 (tā, meaning 'she') and 它 (tā, meaning 'it'), which share the same pronunciation but differ in written form and reference. Unlike English, Chinese pronouns are not inflected for case (e.g., 'he' vs. 'him'), so 他 covers both subjective and objective uses.

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