<p>I feel that you may add 們/们 at the end of a noun when all of the following are true:</p>
<p>(1) the noun refers to a group of humans, animals, or some otherwise personified beings</p>
<p>(2) the noun refers to specific entities (in English, the article &quot;the&quot; can be used before it)</p>
<p>(3) the noun has not been quantified by any means (like &quot;five children&quot; or &quot;many children&quot;)</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<p>這所學校有三千個孩子/这所学校有三千个孩子 &quot;This school has three thousand children&quot;</p>
<p>(adding 們/们 after 孩子 would sound wrong)</p>
<p>鳥兒們在唱歌/鸟儿们在唱歌 &quot;The birds are singing&quot;</p>
<p>(a perfectly good sentence)</p>
<p>Those are what I can think of, but there may be more rules to that. Any suggestions much appreciated.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-03-11T23:39:55.680Z
2022-03-11T23:39:55.680Z
Wallace
<p>I don't think the above rule is accurate. 您 is a singular pronoun. 这 and 那 are also pronouns. They cannot be attached "们" to indicate plural forms. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-26T05:29:31.357Z
pronoun as used above means personal pronoun 我、你、他、她、它、咱 excluding 您 (这,那 are demonstrative pronouns)
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-26T01:39:36.380Z
2015-05-26T01:39:36.380Z
cnwang09
<p>我每天和我的同学<strong>们</strong>一起写作业。</p>

<p>我有很多要好的同学。</p>

<p>【們】Means "s" in English</p>

<ol>
<li>Delete "們" is fine:</li>
</ol>

<p>我每天和我的同学一起写作业。</p>

<p>=  </p>

<p>我每天和我的同学們一起写作业。</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-27T22:41:29.000Z
2015-05-27T22:41:29.000Z
user4946746
<p>In Chinese, using "们" after a noun is, in some sense, equivalent to adding an "s" after an English word.  Yet I find the rules in Chinese of using 们 to be very puzzling; I am a native speaker yet I couldn't figure this out when a good friend of mine asked me when to use 们 and when not to.</p>

<p>I can come up with a few examples:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>我每天和我的同学**们**一起写作业。</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Looks like a 们 is needed in this case.  Yet, in </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>我有很多要好的同学。</p>
</blockquote>

<p>...it sounds awkward if there is a 们 after 同学.</p>

<p>If anyone could come up with a rule that's easy to follow and applies to most cases, that would be very helpful, especially to non-native speakers like my friend.</p>

<grammar><usage>
When to use "们"
# When to use "们"

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-05-04)

In Chinese, using "们" after a noun is, in some sense, equivalent to adding an "s" after an English word. Yet I find the rules in Chinese of using 们 to be very puzzling; I am a native speaker yet I couldn't figure this out when a good friend of mine asked me when to use 们 and when not to.

I can come up with a few examples:

> 我每天和我的同学\*\*们\*\*一起写作业。

Looks like a 们 is needed in this case. Yet, in

> 我有很多要好的同学。

...it sounds awkward if there is a 们 after 同学.

If anyone could come up with a rule that's easy to follow and applies to most cases, that would be very helpful, especially to non-native speakers like my friend.

**Tags:** grammar, usage


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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-03-11. Score: 1

I feel that you may add 們/们 at the end of a noun when all of the following are true:

(1) the noun refers to a group of humans, animals, or some otherwise personified beings

(2) the noun refers to specific entities (in English, the article "the" can be used before it)

(3) the noun has not been quantified by any means (like "five children" or "many children")

For example:

這所學校有三千個孩子/这所学校有三千个孩子 "This school has three thousand children"

(adding 們/们 after 孩子 would sound wrong)

鳥兒們在唱歌/鸟儿们在唱歌 "The birds are singing"

(a perfectly good sentence)

Those are what I can think of, but there may be more rules to that. Any suggestions much appreciated.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2015-05-26. Score: 0

I don't think the above rule is accurate. 您 is a singular pronoun. 这 and 那 are also pronouns. They cannot be attached "们" to indicate plural forms.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: pronoun as used above means personal pronoun 我、你、他、她、它、咱 excluding 您 (这,那 are demonstrative pronouns)  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2015-05-27. Score: 0

我每天和我的同学**们**一起写作业。

我有很多要好的同学。

【們】Means "s" in English

1. Delete "們" is fine:

我每天和我的同学一起写作业。

=

我每天和我的同学們一起写作业。


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