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For instance, in the phrase 「我善养吾浩然之气」

I notice both 我 and 吾 are used. Is there a reason for this?

Mou某
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Andrew Wang
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    要看具体的历史时期。先秦时候真正常用的代词很丰富（后来的人用吾/余/予等都是仿古），似乎有说法是吾和我同时用的时候格是不同的。比如此处，我为主语（主格）吾为定语（所有格），一般来说吾做主语，我做宾语；但也有说法是，吾和我中我字的发音更重，因而处于强调地位的第一人称用我字，这也是我一般做宾语的原因。此后，这些人称代词用得就比较随意了，有的时候仅仅是作者习惯，或者避免一句话有重复才换用代词的吧。|･ω･｀) – Toosky Hierot Nov 24 '18 at 01:00

2 Answers2

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The first thing to point out is that「吾」(Baxter-Sagart: /*ŋˤa/) and「我」(Baxter-Sagart: /*ŋˤajʔ/) are cognate. They mean exactly the same thing, and were interchangeable to a very large degree; as the comment pointed out, the use of one over the other is due to either personal preference, emulation of ancient texts, or to avoid repetition.

Specifically in the pre-Qin era, there was some difference in their usage that eventually disappeared by Middle Chinese.「吾」could not be used in the pre-Qin era as an object after a verb. Quote from Zhuangzi:

《莊子・齊物論》子綦曰：「偃，不亦善乎而問之也！今者吾喪我，汝知之乎？」

子綦 said: "偃, it is very good that you asked this question! I had just lost myself now, but how should you know the answer?"

「吾喪我」could not be written as「我喪吾」in this era.

dROOOze
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  • Just to inquire on 「不亦善乎而問之也」: what is 而 used here as? Is it an equivalent to 你？ – Andrew Wang Nov 24 '18 at 16:34
  • @AndrewWang 而 is a conjunction, more commonly translated as and, and in my translation should be seen as the word that. It is the same kind of and as I was thirsty and drank water; the second clause not only comes after the first in temporal sequence, but also may be a consequence of the first clause. – dROOOze Nov 24 '18 at 22:34
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for classical chinese, most "吾" means "i", occasionally, it means "my", or "mine".

"我" means "i", "me" or "my"; depends on the verse.

here're some usages from analects (論語):

吾

論語　學而

曾子曰．吾日三省吾身

the first 吾 means "i", the second 吾 means "my"

daily (日), i (吾) reflect upon (省) my (吾)-self (身) three times (三)

論語　述而

冉有曰．夫子為衛君乎．子貢曰．諾．吾將問之

this 吾 means "i"

ok (諾), i (吾) will (將) ask (問) about it (之)

論語　先進

季氏富於周公．而求也為之聚斂而附益之．子曰．非吾徒也

吾 means "my", or "mine", depends on the english style.

the Master (子) said (曰): "[he's] not (非) my (吾) disciple (徒)

or,

the Master (子) said (曰): "[he's] not (非) [a] disciple (徒) of mine (吾)

我

論語　述而

子曰．我非生而知之者

"我" means "i"

the Master (子) said (曰), "i (我) [am] not (非) one (者) who was born (生) in the possession of knowledge (而知之)

論語　先進

子曰．從我於陳．蔡者．皆不及門也

"我" means "me"

the Master (子) said (曰): "Of those (者) who were with (從) me (我) in (於) Chen (陳) and Cai (蔡)

論語　述而

子曰．三人行．必有我師焉

"我" means "my"

the Master (子) said (曰): "When I walk along with two others (三人行), they may serve me as my (我) teachers (師)

so, back to your question "what is the difference between 吾 and 我 in 文言文？"

i would say, they're interchangeable.

about "我善養吾浩然之氣"; well, no idea about using both "我" & "吾" in the same verse.

have fun :)

水巷孑蠻
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