Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 我們 / 我们 | wǒmen | |
| 俺們 / 俺们 | ǎnmen | China, Northern, dialectal |
我们 means we or us in the general sense, the speaker plus at least one other person, whether or not the listener is included.
What does it mean word for word?
我们 is made of 我, the pronoun I or me and the plural suffix 们.
Which one should you use?
咱俩 (zánliǎ) is an informal way to say the two of us, meaning you and me. 我们俩 (wǒmen liǎ) also stresses the speaker and one other person.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
俺們 / 俺们 (ǎnmen) is colloquial or dialectal. 咱俩 is informal.
Is it said differently in some regions?
俺们 is a dialect form commonly used in Northern China. In Dungan, the Chinese language of Central Asia written in Cyrillic, the word is вәму (vəmu).
How does it change in a sentence?
The suffix 们 is added to pronouns like 我 to make them plural. It works the same way for the other personal pronouns.
How do you pronounce it?
我们 is pronounced wǒmen in pinyin, with a dipping third tone on the first syllable and a light, unstressed second syllable.
Did you know?
- In the Dungan language spoken in Central Asia, the word for 'we' is written as вәму using the Cyrillic alphabet rather than Chinese characters.
- In many northern dialects, people use 咱们 (zánmen) instead of 我们 (wǒmen) to specifically include the listener in the 'we', whereas 我们 can sometimes exclude them.
- Even though 我们 (wǒmen) means 'we', Chinese speakers frequently omit the word entirely and let the verb stand alone if the context is clear.
Examples in context
- 我们是中国人。We are Chinese.
- 我们明天要去旅行。We are going to travel tomorrow.
- 咱们一起看电影吧。Let's watch a movie together.
- 咱们可以一起进步。We can progress together.
- 咱俩一起打篮球吧。Let's play basketball together.
- 下次咱俩再见面。Let's meet again next time.
- 我们俩一起去购物吧。Let's go shopping together.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “we” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
