A snake, coiling with a long tail. It (third-person singular for animals, objects, or abstract things). Roof (宀) over a spoon-like form (匕): a non-human thing sheltered indoors.
它 is only for non-human things; for people, use 他们 (they) or 她们 (they for females).
The plural of 它 is 它们, not 它门. The character 们 is added to pronouns to indicate plural.
Use 它 for animals, objects, and abstract things; use 他 for males and 她 for females.
In Chinese, 它 is the third-person pronoun for non-human entities, such as animals, inanimate objects, and ideas. 他 is used for males, and 她 for females. If you are unsure whether to use 它 or 他/她, ask yourself if the referent is a person. If it's not a person, use 它.
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Referring to a dog | 它 | 他/她 |
| Referring to a male friend | 他 | 它 |
| Referring to a female teacher | 她 | 它 |
| Referring to a book | 它 | 他/她 |
它 has a roof-like top (宀) and a bottom part (匕), while 他 has a person radical (亻) and 也.
The characters 它 and 他 look somewhat similar but have different components. 它 consists of 宀 (roof) and 匕 (spoon/snake body), while 他 consists of 亻 (person) and 也 (also). Remember: 他 contains the person radical, so it refers to people; 它 does not, so it refers to things.
| Dimension | 它 | 他 |
|---|---|---|
| Radical | 宀 (roof) | 亻 (person) |
| Meaning | it (non-human) | he (male person) |
| Example | 它是猫。 (It is a cat.) | 他是老师。 (He is a teacher.) |
This is a short dialogue about a shopping trip. A woman buys many things, including food, drinks, furniture, and pet food, while her boyfriend reminds her not to overspend.
它们 昨天就没有吃的东西了。
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