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人家 (rén jia) — other people; others; someone else

Definition

人家 (rén jia) means 'other people / they' in spoken Chinese — often a casual third-person reference or mild complaint. As a noun meaning 'household', pair it with 户 or 家. Compare 别人 (neutral 'others') and 旁人 (bystanders).

pronoun
other peopleotherssomeone else
Measure word · 户, 家
Easily confused

Examples

  • 人家，。
    rén jia De hái zi dōu nà me nǔ lì, nǐ yě yào jiā yóu.
    Other people's children are so hardworking, you should also work hard.
  • 人家，。
    rén jia Bù xiǎng qù, nǐ jiù bié miǎn qiǎng le.
    They don't want to go, so don't force them.
  • 人家，。
    rén jia Dōu shuō zhè jiā cān tīng bú cuò, wǒ men lái shì shì.
    Everyone says this restaurant is good, let's try it.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

人rénperson
家jiāhome

人 gives person and 家 gives home, so the word points to a person's household and can mean other people.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
宀宀miánroof
Sound part声符shēngfú
𢑓
𢑓𢑓家jiā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The early drawing of 家 showed a roof 宀 over a male-pig sign 𢑓 that gave the pronunciation; the lower part later changed shape.

Open 家 →

Grammar

Appears in
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