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When addressing a female person, do I have to use 妳 instead of 你?
How common is the usage of 妳?

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2 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

Mainland China doesn't use 妳 anymore. 妳 is mostly used in Hong Kong and Taiwan where they still use Traditional Chinese.

As you mentioned in the question, 妳 is used to address a female person. In mainland China, people use 你 for both male and female.

Note: the right hand side of 你 or 妳 is 尔. In Traditional Chinese, 尔 is written as 爾. However, as far as I know, 你 and 妳 in Traditional Chinese are not written as 儞 not 嬭 but just 你 and 妳.

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ha, here is the reason for my impression. Another question would be, if 妳 can be replaced by 你 in traditional Chinese? – Flake Dec 15 '11 at 0:48
As far as I know, in traditional Chinese 你 can be used for both male/female (ie. to some extent it is gender neutral). However, 妳 is only used for female (similar to 他 and 她). – pyko Dec 18 '11 at 10:13
Two more for you: 祢 --> You (God), 您 --> You (higher) They are still used in China. In China, we don't use 你 for both male and female. – Derek 朕會功夫 Jun 14 '12 at 20:36
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Not sure if it is a standard character in mainland Mandarin. I never use it in my life and have only seen it in very limited situations.

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In what situations have you seen it? – dusan Jan 22 '12 at 3:55

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