TSUMUGU · TBCL 2 (est.) · 語法
們
grammar point · tier 1 · plural suffix 們 (people → a group)
· men
Suffix on a noun for people; marks the referent as a group rather than one.
Hook inherited from 量詞.
Suffix on a noun for people; marks the referent as a group rather than one.
框 · Frame
[noun for people] + 們 (→ the group of them)
觸 · Trigger
Naming people in the plural — the kids, the students, the teachers — with no number doing the counting.
序 · The move
1Confirm the noun names people (孩子, 學生, 老師), not things.Would I call them 'who', not 'what'? Things never take 們.
2Confirm nothing is already counting them.Is there a number+measure (三個學生)? If so, drop 們 — it cannot ride on a count.
3Attach 們 to the bare noun.孩子們 = the children as a group, no number stated.
例 · Examples
1孩子們都all在外面outside玩play。
The children are all out playing.
界 · Boundary
the bare noun aloneA bare person-noun is already number-neutral (學生 can be one or many); 們 forces the plural reading and makes it definite — this group of them.
三個學生們在教室 → 三個學生在教室
書們在桌子上 → 書都在桌子上
English pluralizes almost every noun with -s; 們 is not that. It attaches only to people, and it drops the moment a number counts them.