你 nǐ — you (one person)

Pinyin

• nǐ (third tone, dipping)

you (one person)

Character breakdown

• 亻meaning partno entry yetThe person radical: the word points at a human being.
• 尔sound partno entry yet尔 ěr was itself the classical word for "you", so it carries the sound and the older meaning at once.

Mnemonic

A person 亻 written beside 尔, which was the word for "you" before 你 existed: the radical says "this is a human", the rest says nǐ. Put a heart 心 underneath the whole thing and you get the respectful 您.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.

Words containing 你

• 你nǐ (third tone, dipping)you (one person)

Radical 人 — other characters

• 人rén (second tone, rising)person, human being; people
• 他tā (first tone, high and level)he, him; his; (in the plural 他们) they, including groups of mixed or unstated gender
• 们/們men (neutral tone)the plural suffix for pronouns and for nouns denoting people: 我们, 你们, 他们, 朋友们
• 会/會huì (fourth tone, falling) kuài (fourth tone, falling)to know how to, to be able to (through learning); to be likely to, will; a meeting, a gathering, an association; (kuài) only in 会计, accounting
• 住zhù (fourth tone, falling)to live, to dwell, to stay; to stop, to halt; (as a verb complement) firmly, fast
• 借jiè (fourth tone, falling)to borrow; to lend; to make use of, to take (an opportunity)