Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/na-ŋ

• Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *njaɣ (Coblin, 1986)
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *na-ŋ (Matisoff, STEDT); *naŋ ⪤ **na (LaPolla, 1987)

Compare Old Japanese な (汝 (na, “you”)), Middle Korean 너 (neo, “you”).

*na-ŋ (plural *ni)

1. you (second-person singular pronoun)

• Old Chinese:

  女, 汝 /*naʔ/ (B-S); /*njaʔ/ (ZS) ("you (sg.)")

  乃 (*nɯːʔ) /*nˤəʔ/ (B-S); /*nɯːʔ/ (ZS) ("your (sg.)")

  爾 (*njelʔ) /*neʔ/ (B-S); /*njelʔ/ (ZS) ("you (sg. & pl.)")

  而 (*njɯ) /*nə/ (B-S); /*njɯ/ (ZS) ("you, your")

  你 (*nɯʔ) /*nɯʔ/ (ZS) ("you") (colloquial variant)

  戎 (*njuŋ) /*nuŋ/ (B-S); /*njuŋ/ (ZS) ("you")

  若 /*nak/ (B-S); /*njaɡ/ (ZS) ("you")

  • Middle Chinese: 女, 汝 (ȵɨʌX), 乃 (nʌiX), 爾 (ȵiᴇX), 而 (ȵɨ), 你 (ɳɨX), 戎 (ȵɨuŋ), 若 (ȵɨɐk)

    (All of these survive as readings in compounds or in literary texts in modern dialects. Listed below are the colloquial words for "you" which are ultimately from this PST etymon.)

    • Modern Mandarin
      • Beijing: 你 (nǐ) (nǐ, /ni²¹⁴/) ("you, thou")
    • Cantonese
      • Guangzhou: 你 (nei⁵) /nei¹³/ ("you, thou")
    • Wu
      • Shanghai: 儂 / 侬 (⁶non) /nʊ̆ŋ²³/ ("you, thou")
  • Min
    • Min Nan
      • Taiwan: 你, 汝 /li⁵¹/ ("you")
• Kamarupan
  • Proto-Kuki-Chin: *naŋ
    • Central Chin
      • Mizo: nang
    • Khomic
      • Khumi Chin: nang
    • Maraic
      • Lutuv: nama
• rGyalrongic
  • East rGyalrongic
    • Japhug: nɤ-
    • Situ: no
    • Tshobdun: nɐ-ɟiʔ
    • Zbu: nə-jeʔ
• Naic
  • Namuyi: nuò
  • Proto-Naish: *naɣ
    • Narua: no
    • Laze: [Term?] (/⁠nu˧⁠/)
• Lolo-Burmese: /*naŋ¹/ ("2nd person pronoun")
  • Burmish
    • Achang: nvng
    • Burmese: နင် (nang, “you (intimate, impolite)”), နင့် (nang., “your; you (intimate, impolite)”), ညည်း (nyany:, “you (used among women)”)
    • Lashi: nang
    • Lhao Vo: nao /nɔ̃³¹/
    • Pela: nɔ̃⁵⁵
    • Zaiwa: nang /naŋ⁵¹/
  • Loloish: /*naŋ¹/ (Bradley, 1979)
    • Northern Loloish
      • Yi (Liangshan): ꆏ (ne, “you (sg.)”), ꆍ (nop, “you (pl.)”)
    • Central Loloish
      • Lisu (Southern): ꓠꓴꓻ (nu, “you”)
• Jingpho-Asakian
  • Jingpho: nang (“you”)
• Karenic:
  • S'gaw Karen: နၤ (nā), န (na)
  • Western Pwo: နၧၩ, န
  • Western Kayah: ꤔꤟꤢꤧ꤬ (nà̤e)

• *ŋa (“I (first-person singular pronoun)”)