Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "们" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 们 in Chinese?

们 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /mən/. It means “(plural suffix for people).” mun, short and toneless — a plural suffix that leans on the word in front of it rather than standing on its own.

mun, short and toneless — a plural suffix that leans on the word in front of it rather than standing on its own.

们 /mən/

men

Always neutral, never stressed, and structurally important for sandhi because it blocks adjacency. In wǒmen dōu, for instance, wǒ and dōu are not neighbours, and even where a third tone follows the suffix, wǒ is protected from having to rise by the toneless men sitting between them.

Listen: 们

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Sound it out

m- An ordinary m, lips closed, air through the nose. Nothing unusual, and it flows straight out of whatever vowel preceded it.

-en A reduced central vowel closed by a front n, with the tongue tip making contact at the ridge. Because the syllable is unstressed, the vowel is very short — often barely more than the transition between the two nasals.

no tone Toneless in every use. It copies the pitch of the syllable it attaches to, which is why wǒmen sounds low throughout and tāmen sounds high throughout.

Hear it in a sentence

孩子们在外面玩。

Háizimen zài wàimiàn wán.

The children are playing outside.

Listen: 孩子们在外面玩。

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孩子们在外面玩。 attaches the suffix to háizi, whose second syllable is already toneless — so you get two weak beats in a row, zi and men, before zài drops sharply. That double-neutral stretch is easy to rush past; it should still be audible as two distinct short syllables rather than one blurred one.

Where English speakers slip

Learners commonly give it a full clear vowel and equal timing, producing "MEN" as if it were the English word, which makes plural pronouns sound like two separate words. It should be quick, quiet and centralised. There is also a nasal risk: letting the ending drift to ng gives meng, and because the syllable is unstressed and fast, the drift happens easily without the speaker noticing.