In Chinese, the particle “们 men” denotes the plural of humans or any other type of life.
The plural suffix “们 men” can be used after human nouns to give them a definite reference.
同学 tóngxué（classmate）
同学们 tóngxuémen（classmates）
同事 tóngshì（colleague）
同事们 tóngshìmen（colleagues）
老师lǎoshī (teacher)
老师们lǎoshīmen (teachers)
Adding “们 men” to the end of a word is often done when talking to a group of people and usually shows familiarity:
嘿,姐妹们！
Hēi, jiĕmèi men！
Hey, girls！
嘿, 朋友们！
Hēi, péngyǒumen!
Hey, friends!
孩子们，早上好。
Háizimen, zǎoshang hǎo.
Good morning, children.
同事们，我回来了！
Tóngshìmen, wǒ huíláile!
Colleagues, I’m back!
But you can’t use a number with “们 men”:
三个朋友 sān gè péngyǒu (three friends)
Wrong: *三个朋友们 sān gè péngyǒumen(three friends)
十个学生shí gè xuéshēng (ten students)
Wrong: *十个学生们shí gè xuéshēngmen (ten students)
“们 men” can not be used as a plural suffix for non-human nouns:
Wrong: *苹果们 píngguǒmen (apples)
Wrong: *鞋子们 xiézimen (shoes)
Wrong: *手机们shǒujīmen (mobile phones)
Wrong: *鲜花们xiānhuāmen （the flowers）
Wrong: *电脑们diànnǎomen (computers)
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