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大家 (Everyone) and Reflexive 自己 (Oneself) in Mandarin

By Michael McGettrick and Wee Khang LinUpdated 27 September 2026

Two words, two different jobs

大家 (dàjiā) and 自己 (zìjǐ) sit in the pronoun family, but they solve two unrelated problems. 大家 replaces "everyone/everybody" as a single word standing for a whole group; 自己 replaces "myself/yourself/himself/themselves" as a single word that never changes for person. Both are on the AQA GCSE specification - 大家 at Foundation and Higher, reflexive 自己 at Higher only - and both are refreshingly simpler than their English equivalents once you drop the assumption that Mandarin pronouns work the same way English ones do.

大家 (dàjiā): everyone, as a single word

大家 (dàjiā, literally "big family") means "everyone, everybody" and it behaves exactly like a plural personal pronoun - it goes in subject position, in front of the verb, in the same slot 我们 (wǒmen, we) or 你们 (nǐmen, you all) would occupy:

  • 。 (Dàjiā dōu hěn gāoxìng.) - Everyone is happy.
  • ，。 (Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì nǐmen de lǎoshī.) - Hello everyone, I am your teacher.
  • 。 (Xièxie dàjiā.) - Thank you everyone. here as the object
  • 。 (Dàjiā de yìjiàn dōu hěn zhòngyào.) - Everyone's opinions all matter. modifying a noun with 的

Two things trip learners up. First, 大家 needs no plural marker: 大家们 is not standard Mandarin, because "everyone" is already the whole group and cannot be pluralised further. Second, in statements 大家 very often pairs with 都 (dōu, "all") straight afterwards, much as 谁 and 什么 do in the patterns on the interrogative pronouns page - 大家都知道 (dàjiā dōu zhīdào, everyone knows). A bare 大家知道 is not wrong, but 大家都 is the everyday default, so make it your habit.

大家 means everyone in whatever group the context sets up - very often "all of you" or "all of us here", as with a class, a team or a room, but it also covers everyone in general (大家都知道, everyone knows). Its neighbours do slightly different jobs: 每个人 (měi ge rén, every person) stresses each individual one by one, and 人们 (rénmen, people) means people at large, often in more written or reflective sentences.

自己 (zìjǐ): oneself, unchanged for person

自己 (zìjǐ) means "oneself", and its defining feature is what it does NOT do: it never changes form to agree with the pronoun in front of it. English needs a different word for every person - myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, themselves - Mandarin needs exactly one:

Pronoun + 自己 (zì jǐ)Meaning
(wǒ zìjǐ)myself
(nǐ zìjǐ)yourself
/ (tā zìjǐ)himself / herself
(wǒmen zìjǐ)ourselves
(nǐmen zìjǐ)yourselves
(tāmen zìjǐ)themselves
  • 。 (Wǒ zìjǐ qù.) - I'm going myself. emphasis: alone, unaided
  • 。 (Nǐ zìjǐ xiǎngxiang.) - Think it over yourself.
  • 。 (Tāmen zìjǐ jiějuéle wèntí.) - They solved the problem themselves.

自己 (zì jǐ) also stands completely alone, with no pronoun attached, when the sentence has already made clear whose "self" is meant - typically as the object of a verb:

  • 。 (Nǐ yào xiāngxìn zìjǐ.) - You have to believe in yourself.
  • 。 (Tā zhǐ xiǎngzhe zìjǐ.) - He only thinks about himself.
  • 。 (Zhàogù hǎo zìjǐ.) - Look after yourself.

The rule that keeps 自己 (zì jǐ) straightforward: it normally refers back to the subject already named or clearly implied in the sentence. It is never a stand-in for a stranger or a third party the sentence has not already introduced.

Two jobs for 自己 (zì jǐ): reflexive, and plain emphasis

自己 does the strict reflexive job English "-self" does (他伤了自己, tā shāngle zìjǐ, he hurt himself), but it is used far more often in Mandarin just to add emphasis to a pronoun that is already there, with nothing grammatically reflexive going on:

  • 。 (Zhè shì wǒ zìjǐ xiě de.) - I wrote this myself. stresses "with no help", not a reflexive action on an object
  • 。 (Nǐ zìjǐ qù wèn tā ba.) - Go and ask him yourself. stresses "you, personally, not someone else"

This emphatic use is extremely common in speech and is often the first place a learner meets 自己 (zì jǐ), well before any textbook reflexive-verb example.

Common mistakes

  1. Adding a plural marker to (dà jiā). 大家们 (dà jiā men) is not standard; 大家 (dà jiā) already means the whole group.
  2. Leaving off after out of habit. 大家都知道 (dàjiā dōu zhīdào) is the natural everyday form; get used to reaching for 大家都.
  3. Trying to change (zì jǐ) for person. There is no separate word for "myself" versus "himself" - the same 自己 (zì jǐ) follows every pronoun.
  4. Using (zì jǐ) for someone the sentence has not introduced. 自己 (zì jǐ) always points back to a subject already in play; it cannot introduce a new third party out of nowhere.
  5. Treating , and as identical. 大家 (dà jiā) is everyone in the group context sets up; 每个人 (měi ge rén) stresses each person individually (每个人都有自己的想法, everyone has their own ideas); 人们 (rénmen) is people in general.

See also

Practise: test yourself

Pick the right one

0/6

大家 (dàjiā, everyone) or 自己 (zìjǐ, oneself)? Pick the word that fits the gap.

  1. 都很高兴。 (Everyone is happy.)

    ___ dōu hěn gāo xìng 。 (Everyone is happy.)

  2. 你要相信。 (You have to believe in yourself.)

    nǐ yào xiāng xìn ___。 (You have to believe in yourself.)

  3. 谢谢来参加。 (Thank you everyone for coming.)

    xiè xiè ___ lái cān jiā 。 (Thank you everyone for coming.)

  4. 他只想着。 (He only thinks about himself.)

    tā zhī xiǎng zhe ___。 (He only thinks about himself.)

  5. 先照顾好，才能帮助别人。 (Look after yourself first; only then can you help others.)

    xiān zhào gù hǎo ___， cái néng bāng zhù bié rén 。 (Look after yourself first; only then can you help others.)

  6. 都知道这件事。 (Everyone knows about this.)

    ___ dōu zhī dào zhè jiàn shì 。 (Everyone knows about this.)

Fill in the blank

0/6

Complete each sentence with 大家 or 自己. Type pinyin or characters - tone marks optional.

  1. 好，我是你们的老师。 (Hello everyone, I am your teacher.) (everyone - subject position)

    ___ hǎo ， wǒ shì nǐ men de lǎo shī 。 (Hello everyone, I am your teacher.)

  2. 他做饭，没有人帮他。 (He cooks for himself, nobody helps him.) (oneself, straight after 他)

    tā ___ zuò fàn ， méi yǒu rén bāng tā 。 (He cooks for himself, nobody helps him.)

  3. 我们要相信。 (We have to believe in ourselves.) (oneself, no change for person)

    wǒ men yào xiāng xìn ___。 (We have to believe in ourselves.)

  4. 都没有意见。 (Nobody has any objection - literally, everyone has no opinion.) (everyone - subject position)

    ___ dōu méi yǒu yì jiàn 。 (Nobody has any objection - literally, everyone has no opinion.)

  5. 你应该学会解决问题。 (You should learn to solve problems yourself.) (oneself, no change for person)

    nǐ yīng gāi xué huì ___ jiě jué wèn tí 。 (You should learn to solve problems yourself.)

  6. 的意见很重要。 (Everyone's opinion matters.) (everyone, here as a modifier before 的)

    ___ de yì jiàn hěn zhòng yào 。 (Everyone's opinion matters.)

Matching

0/6

Match the Mandarin phrase to its English meaning.

Translation drill

0/6

Translate into Mandarin, using 大家 for everyone and the right position for 自己.

  1. Hello everyone, I am your teacher.

  2. Everyone is happy.

  3. You have to believe in yourself.

  4. He cooks for himself.

  5. Thank you everyone.

  6. We should learn to solve problems ourselves.

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Frequently asked questions

What does 大家 (dàjiā) mean in Mandarin, and where does it go in the sentence?
大家 (dàjiā) means 'everyone, everybody' - all the people present or all the people in a group being discussed. It behaves like a subject pronoun and goes in front of the verb, exactly where 我们 (wǒmen, we) would go: 大家都很高兴 (dàjiā dōu hěn gāoxìng, everyone is happy), 谢谢大家 (xièxie dàjiā, thank you everyone, here as the object).
Is there a plural form of 大家, like 大家们?
Not in standard Mandarin - you may hear 大家们 as a jokey or chatty flourish, but it is not correct usage. 大家 (dàjiā) already means 'everyone' as a whole group, so it needs no plural marker on top. Mandarin nouns and pronouns generally do not pluralise the way English ones do; 们 (men) exists but only attaches to a small set of personal pronouns and human nouns (我们, 你们, 他们, 朋友们), and 大家 is not one of them.
What does 自己 (zìjǐ) mean, and does it change for 'myself' vs 'yourself'?
自己 (zìjǐ) means 'oneself', and unlike English it never changes form for person: the same word follows 我 (I), 你 (you), 他 (he) or any other pronoun to give 'myself', 'yourself', 'himself'. 我自己去 (wǒ zìjǐ qù) is 'I'm going myself'; 你自己想想 (nǐ zìjǐ xiǎngxiang) is 'think it over yourself'.
Can 自己 stand on its own, without a pronoun in front of it?
Yes. Used alone, 自己 refers back to whoever the sentence is already about, and it often appears as the object of a verb where English would use 'myself/himself/themselves': 要相信自己 (yào xiāngxìn zìjǐ, you have to believe in yourself), 他只想着自己 (tā zhǐ xiǎngzhe zìjǐ, he only thinks about himself).
Can I just use the pronoun again instead of 自己, like 他打了他?
Not if you mean 'himself'. 他打了他 (tā dǎle tā) means he hit someone else; 'he hit himself' is 他打了自己 (tā dǎle zìjǐ). 自己 is also added after a pronoun for plain emphasis even when nothing is reflexive: 我自己写的 (wǒ zìjǐ xiě de, I wrote it myself) simply stresses that no one helped.