Chinese word

我

Pronunciation

Pinyinwǒ

Meaning

  • pronounI

Example

我是学生。wǒ shì xué shēng

I am a student.

Illustration for 我 (I)

More examples

我叫李明。wǒ jiào lǐ míng

I am called Li Ming.

Core concept

The word places the person speaking at the center of an identity, action, or feeling.

Common phrases

  • 我叫李明wǒ jiào lǐ míng

    I am called Li Ming

  • 我会说中文wǒ huì shuō zhōng wén

    I can speak Chinese

  • 我有两本书wǒ yǒu liáng běn shū

    I have two books

  • 我喜欢苹果wǒ xǐ huān píng guǒ

    I like apples

Similar words

你nǐ: Means the person who is being addressed.
我们wǒ men: Means several people, including the person speaking.
他tā: Means a male person outside the conversation.
她tā: Means a female person outside the conversation.

Definition in Chinese

用以指称说话者自身的代词，表示说话者的身份、意图或感受，常见于主语、宾语及与助词连用的结构中。yòng yǐ zhǐ chēng shuō huà zhě zì shēn de dài cí biǎo shì shuō huà zhě de shēn fèn yì tú huò gǎn shòu cháng jiàn yú zhú yǔ bīn yǔ jí yǔ zhù cí lián yòng de jié gòu zhōng

Word origin

Ancient forms of 我 (wǒ, "I") are associated with a weapon, but the character was borrowed for the speaker pronoun and gradually became established with that meaning.

Usage tips

  • In Chinese, the speaker is often left unstated when the context is clear, so a complete sentence can be shorter than its English equivalent.

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word