HSK 1 · Pronouns

他 tā “he” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 他 means

  1. he, him
  2. (third-person singular) (since the early 20th century, usu. male) he
  3. his
  4. (bound form) other
  5. another
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • some other (as in 他日 and 他人)

How to say 他

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale他tā1st tone, high and level

他 in a sentence

  1. 我不知道他什么时候来。

    Wǒ bù zhīdao tā shénme shíhou lái.

    I don’t know when he’ll come.

    Sentence #3636661 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他昨天病了,所以没来学校。

    Tā zuótiān bìng le, suǒyǐ méi lái xuéxiào.

    He was sick yesterday, so he didn’t come to school.

    Sentence #10593201 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 他喜欢唱歌,也喜欢跳舞。

    Tā xǐhuan chànggē, yě xǐhuan tiàowǔ.

    He likes singing and dancing.

    Sentence #1173213 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 他 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.

How to write 他

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

Words related to 他

Words with 他

More words: Pronouns

FAQs

他 (tā) means “he, him” or “(third-person singular) (since the early 20th century, usu. male) he”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it tā: tā with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 他 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type ta with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 他 from the suggestions. Typing ta into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
他 is an HSK 1 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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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.