Hokkien pronouns pose some difficulty to speakers of English due to their complexity. The Hokkien language use a variety of differing demonstrative and interrogative pronouns, and many of them are only with slightly different meanings.
Basic personal pronouns
The plural personal pronouns tend to be nasalized forms of the singular ones.
儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
goán
阮
formal / informal
neutral
plural
Exclusive
gún
阮
informal
females, rarely males
singular
阮 (gún only, not goán) is typically used in Taiwanese Hokkien lyrics.
goán
阮
informal
neutral
singular
ka-kī
家己
formal / informal
neutral
singular
ka-kī-lâng
家己儂
informal
neutral
plural
儂 (-lâng) is suffixed for plural. Here, it is not only used in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects, but also in Chinese Hokkien and Taiwanese Hokkien. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
kò-jîn
個人
formal
neutral
singular
lán
咱
formal / informal
neutral
plural
Inclusive
lán-lâng
咱儂
informal
neutral
plural
儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
lâng
儂
informal
neutral
singular
It originally means "person".
lín-chó͘-má
恁祖媽
very informal, rude
females
singular
It originally means "your grandmother".
lín-pē
恁父
very informal, rude
males
singular
It originally means "your father".
ngó͘
吾 / 我
formal, written
neutral
singular
sió-seng
小生
formal, written
males
singular
– second person –
chiok-hā
足下
formal, written
males
singular
koh-hā
閣下
formal, written
males
singular
kun
君
formal, written
males
singular
lí
汝
formal / informal
neutral
singular
lín
恁
formal / informal
neutral
plural
lín-lâng
恁儂
informal
neutral
plural
儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
– third person –
i
伊
formal / informal
neutral
singular
i-lâng
伊儂
informal
neutral
plural
儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects. (see also list of pluralising suffixes, below)
儂 (-lâng) is typically suffixed for plural in Southeast Asian Hokkien dialects, but some of them like ka-kī-lâng (we) is also used in Chinese and Taiwanese Hokkien.
Demonstrative and interrogative pronouns
Usually, Hokkien pronouns are prefixed with ch- for thing or things near the speaker, and h- for one or ones distant from the speaker.