A Character a Day 们

Video script:

Good morning. In this video, we are going to talk about 们. It sounds men, and it is a plural marker for pronouns, and nouns referring to individuals. If you watch my pervious video, you will know more about the right part of this character 门. By itself, it means gate or door. But here, it is the component of this character 们, and it marks the sound as men. The left part is the radical, a single standing person, 单人旁, which indicates that this character has something to do with the human being.

Let's see how to write it.

Since it's a plural marker, we will see how it works to mark the plural word.

First it can change the single pronoun into plural. For example, 我, I or me; 我们 we or us. 你, indicate a single you; 你们 refers to a plural you; 他,he; 他们, they; 她, she; 她们 refers to a group of female persons.

Second it can change the noun into plural. For example,  人, person; 人们, people;  孩子, child; 孩子们, children; 女士, lady; 女士们, ladies; 先生, sir, gentleman; 先生们, gentlemen;

But please notice that 们 is not to be used after a noun that has a numeral modifier.

Such as,  two children is not 两个孩子们 . This is not right. The correct translation is 两个孩子。

That's all for today. I will see you soon. Thanks for watching.