吾 · 汝 · 子（＝我／你）
the classical words for “I” and “you”
Structure
吾／余／予 ＝ 我 ； 汝／尔 ＝ 你 ； 子 ＝ 您、先生
What it means
The classical words for “I” and “you”: 吾 (wú) and 余／予 (yú) mean 我; 汝 (rǔ) and 尔 (ěr) mean 你; 子 (zǐ) is a polite “you”, like 您 or 先生.
How it is built
They sit where 我 or 你 would: 子非我，安知我不知鱼之乐？ (You are not me; how do you know I don’t know what fish enjoy?). 汝／尔 is said to an equal, a wife or a junior.
When to use it
Read them in classical texts (writers then also used 我 itself). Today they live in quotations, titles and set phrases: 吾辈 (people like us), 尔虞我诈 (each deceiving the other), 《吾国与吾民》.
Watch out
In ordinary speech they sound mock-ancient: ✗吾今天很忙 ✓我今天很忙. In modern words 子 is mostly a suffix (桌子) or “Master” in a thinker’s name (孔子, 庄子), not “you”.
Examples
子非我，安知我不知鱼之乐？
You are not me; how do you know I do not know what fish enjoy?
往矣！吾将曳尾于涂中。
Off you go! I shall drag my tail in the mud.
汝看此书时，吾已成为阴间一鬼。
By the time you read this letter, I shall be a ghost among the dead. (林觉民《与妻书》, 6-21)
Learn this in Lesson 231 · HSK 9+: 庄子 (Zhuangzi, the laughing philosopher)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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