他

tā

也 + 亻

HSK 2.0Level 1

HSK 3.0Level 1

Definitions

tā (pronoun) he; him

tā (adjective) other; another

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 也 represents the sound.

About

他 is a phono-semantic compound: the left-hand radical 亻 (from 人 'person') provides the meaning of a human subject, and the right-hand component 也 (yě) indicates the pronunciation. Originally, before gender-specific pronouns were distinguished in the written language, 他 served as a universal third-person pronoun for all genders, and it also had the sense of 'other' or 'another' in classical compounds. In modern usage, the character has specialized to denote the masculine 'he' or 'him,' yet it retains a gender-neutral function when referring to a person of unknown gender or to a mixed-gender group in the plural 他們.

Etymology Hide

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

他喜欢苹果。

Tā xǐhuān píngguǒ.

He likes apples.

他经常跑步。

Tā jīngcháng pǎobù.

He often runs.

他今天去学校。

Tā jīntiān qù xuéxiào.

He goes to school today.

他应该学习。

Tā yīnggāi xuéxí.

He should study.

他和我都是老师。

Tā hé wǒ dōu shì lǎoshī.

He and I are both teachers.

他说他想回家。

Tā shuō tā xiǎng huí jiā.

He says he wants to go home.

他高兴地接受了礼物。

Tā gāoxìng de jiēshòu le lǐwù.

He happily accepted the gift.

他虽然很忙，但还是抽时间帮助别人。

Tā suīrán hěn máng, dàn háishì chōu shíjiān bāngzhù biérén.

Although he is very busy, he still takes time to help others.

Related Characters

Composed characters:

Component: 也

Component: 亻

他