Where it came from
What 其 first meant, how it became a function word, and where it stands today.
其 is a drawing of a winnowing basket, and it got borrowed for the pronoun so early and so completely that the basket had to be re-written as 箕 with a bamboo hat on top. The classical possessive gave way to 他的 and 它的 in the vernacular, but 其 kept an unusual amount of written ground: 其中 “among them”, 其實 “actually” (literally “its substance”), 其他 “the others”, 尤其 “especially”. The old pronoun is folded into words you use in every conversation.
Across the books
Densest in Book 14 (33 occurrences).
- 110
- 216
- 310
- 46
- 523
- 613
- 711
- 811
- 910
- 104
- 1110
- 1212
- 1323
- 1433
- 1514
- 1611
- 1716
- 1810
- 1924
- 203
How it works
Every job 其 does, counted over its 270 occurrences in the Analects — commonest first. Tap a passage number to see the whole passage.
- Possessive pronoun 180× · 67%
- Pronoun standing alone 39× · 14%
- Modal particle 45× · 17%
- The frame 與其⋯寧 (rather than) 6× · 2%
1Possessive pronoun180× · 67%
“His”, “her”, “its”, “their”. It’s always attached to the thing owned and never stands alone.
- Noun right after it: 其子, their children. The shape most of the 180 possessive 其 in the book take
- The gender is English’s choice: 驥不稱其力, its strength, or his, or her
- Context can turn it into “my” or “your”, since a speaker can refer to himself or to the listener in the third person
And sometimes it just won’t settle. In 13.24, 其不善者惡之, I couldn’t decide whether the 其 was doing “and”, a contrastive “but”, or the possessive to balance the 鄉人之 of the first half. It didn’t change the meaning of the passage, so I gave myself a free pass on that one.
Gloss his, her, its, their
Look for directly before the noun (or verb phrase) it possesses.
Technical marks the possessor of a following noun or the notional subject of a following verb
5 examples
子貢問為仁。子曰：「工欲善其事，必先利其器。居是邦也，事其大夫之賢者，友其士之仁者。」
Zigong asked about the practice of virtue. The Master said: "The mechanic, who wishes to do his work well, must first sharpen his tools. When you are living in any State, take service with the most worthy among its great officers, and make friends of the most virtuous among its scholars."
Legge 1861
Two possessives in one proverb, 善其事 and 利其器, and every translator words both. Legge, Slingerland, Roberts, Lau, and Watson write “his work, his tools”. Ni, Ames & Rosemont, and Chin make the craftsman plural and write “their”. The line is still said in Chinese today, unchanged, with both 其 in it.
子曰：「父在，觀其志；父沒，觀其行；三年無改於父之道，可謂孝矣。」
The Master said: "While a man's father is alive, look at the bent of his will; when his father is dead, look at his conduct. If for three years he does not alter from the way of his father, he may be called filial."
Legge 1861
Whose will and whose conduct? The son’s, though the son is never named, only the father. 觀其志, 觀其行:
- “his” both times: Legge, Slingerland, Ni, Watson
- The owner supplied: Roberts “the direction of a man’s thinking”, Lau “what a man has in mind”
- The possessive dissolved into a clause: Ames & Rosemont and Chin, “observe what he intends”
The pronoun reaches back over the father to the person under examination.
子曰：「驥不稱其力，稱其德也。」
The Master said: "A horse is called a ji, not because of its strength, but because of its other good qualities."
Legge 1861
The pronoun has no gender, and English has to pick one:
- “its” strength, “its” virtue: Legge, Slingerland, Ni, Roberts, Ames & Rosemont, Lau
- Watson gives the famous horse Qi a “his”
- Chin gives her a “her”
The neuter is the default, unless the translator has decided the horse is somebody.
子曰：「為政以德，譬如北辰，居其所而眾星共之。」
The Master said: "He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it."
Legge 1861
居其所: the star keeps the place that is its own, and the ruler who governs by virtue, the passage says, is that star. Seven translators write “its”, the one English possessive that is never a person. Roberts folds it into a relative clause, “whose fixed position hosts the stars”.
樊遲請學稼，子曰：「吾不如老農。」請學為圃。曰：「吾不如老圃。」樊遲出。子曰：「小人哉，樊須也！上好禮，則民莫敢不敬；上好義，則民莫敢不服；上好信，則民莫敢不用情。夫如是，則四方之民襁負其子而至矣，焉用稼？」
Fan Chi requested to be taught husbandry. The Master said: "I am not so good for that as an old husbandman."
He requested also to be taught gardening, and was answered: "I am not so good for that as an old gardener."
Fan Chi having gone out, the Master said: "A small man, indeed, is Fan Xu! If a superior love propriety, the people will not dare not to be reverent. If he love righteousness, the people will not dare not to submit to his example. If he love good faith, the people will not dare not to be sincere. Now, when these things obtain, the people from all quarters will come to him, bearing their children on their backs; — what need has he of a knowledge of husbandry?"
Legge 1861
All eight translators write “their”: the children belong to the people who carry them. This is the possessive at its plainest, with a noun right after it, 其子, “their children”, and it’s the shape most of the 180 possessive 其 in the book take.
2Pronoun standing alone39× · 14%
The same pronoun with no noun to own: “he”, “they”, “it”, “such”. The corpus keeps these apart from the possessive for one reason: a verb follows, not a noun.
- The subject of a clause after 見 or 聞: 吾見其居於位, “I saw him sitting in the seat”
- The subject of a clause turned into a noun: 其為仁之本, “their being the root of 仁”
- Picking up something just named: 其從之也, “would he follow?”
Gloss he, they, it, such
Look for a verb straight after it instead of a noun — often after 見, 聞, 欲.
Technical picks up someone or something already mentioned without naming it again — often in set phrases like 其中 'in it' and 其次 'the next', where English says 'it' or 'the' rather than 'his'
4 examples
宰我問曰：「仁者，雖告之曰：『井有仁焉。』其從之也？」子曰：「何為其然也？君子可逝也，不可陷也；可欺也，不可罔也。」
Zai Wo asked, saying: "A benevolent man, though it be told him, 'There is a man in the well' will go in after him, I suppose."
Confucius said: "Why should he do so? A superior man may be made to go to the well, but he cannot be made to go down into it. He may be imposed upon, but he cannot be fooled."
Legge 1861
Zai Wo’s hypothetical man of 仁: told that someone is down the well, 其從之也, would he follow? Seven translators write “he” or “they”, and Legge alone hears a surmise in it: “will go in after him, I suppose”.
That surmise is the other job of 其, and it shows how close the two can sit.
闕黨童子將命。或問之曰：「益者與？」子曰：「吾見其居於位也，見其與先生並行也。非求益者也，欲速成者也。」
A youth of the village of Que was employed by Confucius to carry the messages between him and his visitors.
Some one asked about him, saying, "I suppose he has made great progress."
The Master said: "I observe that he is fond of occupying the seat of a full-grown man; I observe that he walks shoulder to shoulder with his elders. He is not one who is seeking to make progress in learning. He wishes quickly to become a man."
Legge 1861
見其居於位 is “see him sit in the place”. The 其 is the subject of the sitting, not the owner of anything.
- Legge: “I observe that he is fond of occupying the seat”, twice
- “him”: Lau “I have seen him presume to take a seat”, and Slingerland, Ni, Roberts, Ames & Rosemont, Watson
- Chin makes it a noun: “I have seen this boy sitting down”
Seven of the eight word it as a pronoun, and none of them as a possessive.
有子曰：「其為人也孝弟，而好犯上者，鮮矣；不好犯上，而好作亂者，未之有也。君子務本，本立而道生。孝弟也者，其為仁之本與！」
The philosopher You said: "They are few who, being filial and fraternal, are fond of offending against their superiors. There have been none, who, not liking to offend against their superiors, have been fond of stirring up confusion.
The superior man bends his attention to what is radical. That being established, all practical courses naturally grow up. Filial piety and fraternal submission! — are they not the root of all benevolent actions?"
Legge 1861
Filial and fraternal conduct have just been named, and 其為仁之本 picks them up as the subject of “be the root of 仁”.
- “they”: Legge, Ni, Roberts
- “these”: Watson; “it”: Ames & Rosemont, Chin
- Slingerland and Lau word it with no pronoun at all
Commentators have also read this 其 as the surmising particle of the next usage, and the 與 that closes the line invites that reading. Ames & Rosemont’s “it is, I suspect, the root” manages both at once.
子張問行。子曰：「言忠信，行篤敬，雖蠻貊之邦行矣；言不忠信，行不篤敬，雖州里行乎哉？立，則見其參於前也；在輿，則見其倚於衡也。夫然後行。」子張書諸紳。
Zizhang asked how a man should conduct himself, so as to be everywhere appreciated.
The Master said: "Let his words be sincere and truthful, and his actions honorable and careful; — such conduct may be practiced among the rude tribes of the South or the North. If his words be not sincere and truthful and his actions not honorable and careful, will he, with such conduct, be appreciated, even in his neighborhood?
When he is standing, let him see those two things, as it were, fronting him. When he is in a carriage, let him see them attached to the yoke. Then may he subsequently carry them into practice."
Zizhang wrote these counsels on the end of his sash.
Legge 1861
The 其 stands for the two maxims just given, sincere speech and careful conduct, and nothing follows it for it to own. All seven translators who reach the line give it a demonstrative or a plain pronoun:
- Legge: “those two things”
- Slingerland, Roberts, Ames & Rosemont, Watson: “these”
- Lau: “this ideal”; and, for the second 其, “them” from nearly everyone
3Modal particle45× · 17%
This 其 takes the hard edge off a statement or a question: “perhaps”, “probably”, “I expect”, “surely not”. Grammarians call it modal, because it marks the speaker’s attitude rather than a fact. The sentence works fine without it. 其 adds the raised eyebrow, the way 吧 does at the end of a modern Mandarin sentence.
- 其⋯與: a guess offered for agreement, 從我者其由與
- 其⋯乎: a possibility floated, 吾其為東周乎
- On its own before the verb: 其事也, “it must have been”
Gloss perhaps, probably, surely
Look for before the verb, often in questions ending 與 or 乎 — and in the answer to a question, where it hedges.
Technical marks the clause as a supposition, conjecture, or softened rhetorical assertion or question
5 examples
冉子退朝。子曰：「何晏也？」對曰：「有政。」子曰：「其事也。如有政，雖不吾以，吾其與聞之。」
The disciple Ran returning from the court, the Master said to him: "How are you so late?" He replied: "We had government business."
The Master said: "It must have been family affairs. If there had been government business, though I am not now in office, I should have been consulted about it."
Legge 1861
Ran Qiu says he was kept late by 政, affairs of state. Confucius answers with two characters and a particle, 其事也: it will have been 事, private business. Legge, Ni, Chin write “must have been”, and Watson “no doubt”; Ames & Rosemont “perhaps”; Lau “could only have been”.
Six of the eight give the surmise a word, which for a modal particle is a very high count.
子謂仲弓曰：「犂牛之子騂且角，雖欲勿用，山川其舍諸？」
The Master, speaking of Zhonggong, said: "If the calf of a brindled cow be red and horned, although men may not wish to use it, would the spirits of the mountains and rivers put it aside?"
Legge 1861
The red-coated calf of a plough ox, which is Zhonggong, son of a humble father, and whether the spirits would refuse it in sacrifice. Watson’s “Surely the gods of the mountains and rivers will not reject it” is the one rendering that gives 其 a word of its own. The other seven fold it into “would”, and the rhetorical question does the rest.
子曰：「道不行，乘桴浮于海。從我者其由與？」子路聞之喜。子曰：「由也好勇過我，無所取材。」
The Master said: "My doctrines make no way. I will get upon a raft, and float about on the sea. He that will accompany me will be You, I dare say."
Zilu hearing this was glad, upon which the Master said: "You is fonder of daring than I am. He does not exercise his judgment upon matters."
Legge 1861
Confucius guessing which disciple would follow him onto a raft: 其⋯與 wraps the guess.
- The hedge put into words: Legge “I dare say”, Lau “no doubt”, Ames & Rosemont “I expect”
- Turned into a tag question: Slingerland “would it not be Zilu?”, Ni, Watson
- Chin drops it and states it flat
Zilu, hearing of it, is delighted, and is told in the next breath that courage is not judgment.
公山弗擾以費畔，召，子欲往。子路不說，曰：「末之也已，何必公山氏之之也。」子曰：「夫召我者而豈徒哉？如有用我者，吾其為東周乎？」
Gongshan Furao, when he was holding Bi, and in an attitude of rebellion, invited the Master to visit him, who was rather inclined to go.
Zilu was displeased, and said: "Indeed, you cannot go! Why must you think of going to see Gongshan?"
The Master said: "Can it be without some reason that he has invited ME? If any one employ me, may I not make an eastern Zhou?"
Legge 1861
Confucius thinking over a rebel’s invitation: 其⋯乎 makes the ambition a possibility floated, not a claim.
- “perhaps”: Lau, Chin
- “might I not”, “may I not”: Legge, Ni
- “could”: Slingerland, Roberts, Watson
The hedge is the whole tone of the passage. He wanted to go, and he knew how it looked.
子曰：「無為而治者，其舜也與？夫何為哉，恭己正南面而已矣。」
The Master said: "May not Shun be instanced as having governed efficiently without exertion? What did he do? He did nothing but gravely and reverently occupy his royal seat."
Legge 1861
The 其⋯也與 frame around a name: 其舜也與, “it would be Shun, would it not?”
- “surely”: Watson, Ames & Rosemont
- “perhaps”: Lau
- A tag question: Legge “May not Shun be instanced”, Slingerland “Is Shun not”, Ni, Roberts
“Surely” and “perhaps” are the two ends of the same hedge. Chin drops it and states it flat.
4The frame 與其⋯寧 (rather than)6× · 2%
A fixed comparison: 與其 A，寧 B, “rather than A, better B”. The 其 here is the pronoun again, standing for the option about to be named and rejected, and 與 is “with”, so 與其A is literally “compared with that, A”. English collapses the whole frame into one “than”, and that’s the word the 其 answers to.
- Answered by 寧: 與其奢也，寧儉
- Answered by 無寧, inside a question: 與其死於臣之手也，無寧⋯
- Answered by 豈若: 與其從辟人之士也，豈若⋯
Gloss than, rather than
Look for 與其 at the head of a clause, answered by 寧, 無寧, or 豈若 in the next.
Technical marks one member of a paired comparison as the alternative or rejected option
4 examples
子曰：「奢則不孫，儉則固。與其不孫也，寧固。」
The Master said: "Extravagance leads to insubordination, and parsimony to meanness. It is better to be mean than to be insubordinate."
Legge 1861
Extravagance breeds insubordination, frugality meanness, and 與其不孫也，寧固 chooses the lesser fault. “than” from Legge, Ni, Ames & Rosemont, Lau, Chin, and Slingerland alone keeps the Chinese order: “Compared to presumption, though, shabbiness is to be preferred”, which is what 與其 says word for word.
林放問禮之本。子曰：「大哉問！禮，與其奢也，寧儉；喪，與其易也，寧戚。」
Lin Fang asked what was the first thing to be attended to in ceremonies. The Master said: "A great question indeed!
In festive ceremonies, it is better to be sparing than extravagant. In the ceremonies of mourning, it is better that there be deep sorrow than a minute attention to observances."
Legge 1861
The frame twice in one answer: 與其奢也，寧儉; 與其易也，寧戚. Every translator renders it with “than” or “rather than”, and the order of the English is the reverse of the Chinese. English puts the preferred thing first, “better sparing than extravagant”. Chinese names the rejected one first, with 其 pointing at it.
王孫賈問曰：「與其媚於奧，寧媚於竈，何謂也？」子曰：「不然，獲罪於天，無所禱也。」
Wangsun Jia asked, saying: "What is the meaning of the saying, 'It is better to pay court to the furnace than to the south-west corner?'"
The Master said: "Not so. He who offends against Heaven has none to whom he can pray."
Legge 1861
A proverb quoted at Confucius by Wangsun Jia: better the stove than the shrine in the corner, meaning better the minister who can actually help you than the ruler. Seven write “better⋯than” (Slingerland’s edition leaves out the proverb itself). The “than” is the 與其, and the “better” belongs to 寧. Confucius’s reply rejects the saying outright.
子疾病，子路使門人為臣。病閒，曰：「久矣哉！由之行詐也，無臣而為有臣。吾誰欺？欺天乎？且予與其死於臣之手也，無寧死於二三子之手乎？且予縱不得大葬，予死於道路乎？」
The Master being very ill, Zilu wished the disciples to act as ministers to him.
During a remission of his illness, he said: "Long has the conduct of You been deceitful! By pretending to have ministers when I have them not, whom should I impose upon? Should I impose upon Heaven?
Moreover, than that I should die in the hands of ministers, is it not better that I should die in the hands of you, my disciples? And though I may not get a great burial, shall I die upon the road?"
Legge 1861
The answering word is 無寧 rather than 寧, and the whole frame sits inside a question, but the shape holds: 與其死於臣之手 names the rejected death, the one among ministers. Legge keeps the Chinese order: “than that I should die in the hands of ministers, is it not better⋯”, and the other seven turn it round: “would I not rather die in your hands than⋯”.