There are seven basic pronouns in Mandarin Chinese:
| Person |
Pronoun | Notes |
| First | wǒ | Expresses "I", "me", etc. |
| Second | nǐ, nĭ, nín, and nĭ | Expresses "you", etc., masculine, feminine, you addressed with respect, respectively, and adressing deities, is seldom used in Taiwan Mandarin and does not exist in Standard Chinese in Mainland China. |
| Third | tā | Expresses "he" / "she" / "it [animate]" / "it [inanimate]" / " he or she [deity]", respectively. |
Examples:
| English | Chinese |
| Ginny: Hello. | Jīnní: Nǐ hǎo. |
| Owen: Hello. | Ōuwén: Nǐ hǎo. |
| Ginny: I'm Ginny. What's your name? | Jīnní: Wǒ jiào Jīnní. Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi? |
| Owen: I'm Owen. | Ōuwén: Wǒ jiào Ōuwén. |
| Owen: She is Amy. She's Chinese. Tā shì | Ōuwén: Tā shì Àiměi, tā shì Zhōngguórén. |
| He's Tony, an American. | shì Dōngní, tā shì Měiguórén. |