Useful extra · HSK 1 list

他们 tāmen “they” in Chinese

Traditional 他們

What 他们 means

  1. they
  2. them

How to say 他们

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale他tā1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own们menneutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

他们 in a sentence

  1. 他们是怎么认识的？

    Tāmen shì zěnme rènshi de?

    How did they meet?

    Sentence #11540216 from Tatoeba

  2. 你知道他们什么时候到吗？

    Nǐ zhīdao tāmen shénme shíhou dào ma?

    Do you know when they will arrive?

    Sentence #1438397 from Tatoeba

  3. 明天中午他们不在学校。

    Míngtiān zhōngwǔ tāmen bú zài xuéxiào.

    They won’t be in school tomorrow at noon.

    Sentence #10966746 from Tatoeba

How 他们 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 他 (tā) with each of its parts in a different colour
他tāhe; him; his
  • 亻person form of 人 · rén
  • 也also · yě

Memory aidPerson 亻 with 也: he, or someone in general.

The character 们 (men) with each of its parts in a different colour
们menplural marker for pronouns
  • 亻person form of 人 · rénMeaning part
  • 门gate · ménSound part

亻 hints at the meaning (person); 门 (mén) hints at the sound. Compare it with men.

How to write 他们

他 5 strokes · 们 5 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

他们 (tāmen) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 他们 (tāmen). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 他们

Words with 他

他tā · he其他qítā · other

Words with 们

们men · plural marker for pronouns我们wǒmen · we你们nǐmen · you (plural)它们tāmen · they (for inanimate objects)她们tāmen · they人们rénmen · people咱们zánmen · we

More words: Useful Extras

你们nǐmen · you (plural)你好nǐ hǎo · hello没méi · no这儿zhèr · here那儿nàr · there见jiàn · to see笔bǐ · pen歌gē · song

FAQs

他们 (tāmen) means “they” or “them”. It is not on the official HSK lists, but we teach it with HSK 1 because learners need it early.
Say it tāmen: tā with a 1st tone, then men with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 他们 is written 他們. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type tamen with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 他们 from the suggestions. Typing tamen into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
他们 is not on the official HSK 2.0 word lists. It is a useful extra on our HSK 1 list, because learners need it from the start.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.