Where 你 comes from
Pronoun 尔 for a person 亻
How to write 你 (nǐ, “you”)
你 (nǐ), an HSK 1 character, means “you”. It is a character whose parts combine into its meaning. On its own it is an HSK 1 word; it also forms 你们 (“you (plural)”), 你好 (“hello”) and 你我 (“you and I”). Japanese reads it ji, “you”.
- Pinyin
- nǐ
- Strokes
- 7
- HSK
- 1
- Radical
- 亻 (“person”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
As a left-right character it splits into 亻 (“person”, the radical), strokes 1–2; 尔 (“thus”), strokes 3–7, written the left part first.
- top leftdown and left
- top leftdownwards
- topdown and left
- toprightwards → down and left
- centerdownwards → up and left
- centerdownwards
- rightdown and right
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| nǐ third tone | you (informal, as opposed to courteous 您 (nín)) | — | 你们 你好 你我 去你的 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 1
- 2021 standard
- level 1
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 1 word
- Words with it
- 19 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 你
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 你 | nǐ | you (informal, as opposed to courteous 您 (nín)) HSK 1 |
| 你们 你們 | nǐmen | you (plural) HSK 1 |
| 你好 | nǐhǎo | hello; hi HSK 1 |
| 你我 | nǐwǒ | you and I; everyone |
| 去你的 | qùnǐde | Get along with you! |
| 有人想你 | yǒurénxiǎngnǐ | Bless you! (after a sneeze) |
| 真有你的 | zhēnyǒunǐde | You're really quite something!; You're just amazing! |
| 走你 | zǒunǐ | (neologism c. 2012) (interjection of encouragement) Let’s do this!… |
| 你真行 | nǐzhēnxíng | you're incredible… |
| 你情我愿 你情我願 | nǐqíngwǒyuàn | to both be willing; mutual consent |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
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Contain it:
HSK 1, in list order: