Example sentences
chī吃xiē些shuǐ水guǒ果ba吧。
Have some fruit.
zhè这xiē些rén人shì是shuí谁？
Who are these people?
The story behind the character
些
些 means "some" or "a few," and it rarely stands alone. 一些 some, 这些 these, 那些 those, 有些 some of them. It behaves like a measure word, so it needs a number or a pointer in front, and 些书 by itself isn't said. 一些 is vaguer than English "some" and closer to "a few," which makes it handy for playing a quantity down. 有些 at the start of a sentence means "some people."