About
The character '们', with its traditional form '們', structurally combines the semantic component '人' (person) as '亻' and the phonetic component '門' (door), later simplified to '门'. Etymologically, '們' initially denoted a sense of collectivity or group in earlier Chinese, rather than serving as a plural suffix. Its meaning shifted over centuries, grammaticalizing into a plural marker for pronouns and some nouns during the medieval period, transitioning from a lexical word to a functional grammatical particle. The simplified form '们' maintains the semantic '亻' but replaces the phonetic element with '门', while continuing to express plurality in contemporary usage.
Example Sentences Hide
我们回家了。
你们去学校吗？
他们是我的朋友。
孩子们在公园玩。
人们都喜欢这个地方。
我们应该帮助需要帮助的人们。
老师们正在讨论新的教学方法。
当我们相遇时，我们都笑了。