Hokkien pronouns

Pronoun
Hàn-jī	代名詞
Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Tāi-bêng-sû
Tâi-lô	tāi-bîng-sû
Bbánpìng	dâibbíngsú

Hokkien pronouns pose some difficulty to speakers of English due to their complexity. The Hokkien language use a variety of differing demonstrative and interrogative pronouns, and many of them are only with slightly different meanings.

Basic personal pronouns

The plural personal pronouns tend to be nasalized forms of the singular ones.

	Singular			Plural
	Chinese character	vernacular / colloquial	literary	Chinese character	vernacular / colloquial	literary
First person	我	góa	ngó͘	阮	goán / gún (exclusive)	-
	俺	án (possessive determiner)	-	咱	lán (inclusive)	-
Second person	汝	lí	lú	恁	lín	-
Third person	伊	i	i	𪜶	in	-

List of Hokkien personal pronouns

Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Hàn-jī	Level of speech	Gender	Grammatical number	Notes
– first person –
chū-kí	自己	formal, written	neutral	singular
góa	我	formal / informal	neutral	singular
góa-lâng	我儂	informal	neutral	plural	儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
goán	阮	formal / informal	neutral	plural	Exclusive
gún	阮	informal	females, rarely males	singular	阮 (gún only, not goán) is typically used in Taiwanese Hokkien lyrics.
goán	阮	informal	neutral	singular
ka-kī	家己	formal / informal	neutral	singular
ka-kī-lâng	家己儂	informal	neutral	plural	儂 (-lâng) is suffixed for plural. Here, it is not only used in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects, but also in Chinese Hokkien and Taiwanese Hokkien. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
kò-jîn	個人	formal	neutral	singular
lán	咱	formal / informal	neutral	plural	Inclusive
lán-lâng	咱儂	informal	neutral	plural	儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
lâng	儂	informal	neutral	singular	It originally means "person".
lín-chó͘-má	恁祖媽	very informal, rude	females	singular	It originally means "your grandmother".
lín-pē	恁父	very informal, rude	males	singular	It originally means "your father".
ngó͘	吾 / 我	formal, written	neutral	singular
sió-seng	小生	formal, written	males	singular
– second person –
chiok-hā	足下	formal, written	males	singular
koh-hā	閣下	formal, written	males	singular
kun	君	formal, written	males	singular
lí	汝	formal / informal	neutral	singular
lín	恁	formal / informal	neutral	plural
lín-lâng	恁儂	informal	neutral	plural	儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
– third person –
i	伊	formal / informal	neutral	singular
i-lâng	伊儂	informal	neutral	plural	儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
in	𪜶	formal / informal	neutral	plural
lâng	儂	informal	neutral	singular	It originally means "person".

Archaic personal pronouns

Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Hàn-jī	Level of speech	Gender	Meaning	Notes
chhiap-sin	妾身	formal	females	I	It means "concubine" or "mistress". It is seldom used in modern societies.
pē-hā	陛下	formal, written	neutral, emperors, kings, queens	You
tiān-hā	殿下	formal, written	neutral, princes, princesses	You

Suffixes

Suffixes are added to pronouns to make them plural.

Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Hàn-jī	Level of speech	Gender	Examples	Notes
lâng	儂	informal	neutral	我儂, góa-lâng (we) 家己儂, ka-kī-lâng (we) 咱儂, lán-lâng (we) 恁儂, lín-lâng (you) 伊儂, i-lâng (they)	儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects, but some of them like ka-kī-lâng (we) is also used in Chinese and Taiwanese Hokkien.

Demonstrative and interrogative pronouns

Usually, Hokkien pronouns are prefixed with ch- for thing or things near the speaker, and h- for one or ones distant from the speaker.

Pe̍h-ōe-jī	Hàn-jī	Meaning
che	此 / 即 / 這	this thing (near the speaker)
he	彼 / 許	that thing (distant from the speaker)
tó-chi̍t-ê	佗一个	which thing(s)?
chit-ê	此个 / 即个 / 這个	this (near the speaker)
chia-ê	遮个	these (near the speaker)
hit-ê	彼个 / 許个	that (distant from the speaker)
hia-ê	遐个	those (distant from the speaker)
chia	遮	here (near the speaker)
hia	遐	there (distant from the speaker)
tó-ūi	佗位	where

See also

• Hokkien language
• Hokkien grammar
• Hokkien numerals