谁 replaces the unknown person in the sentence
The question word 谁 means "who" and is used in place of the person you are asking about. Unlike English, no special word order is needed — 谁 simply replaces the unknown person in the sentence. For example, 他是谁? means "Who is he?" and 谁来了? means "Who came?"
今天谁值班?
jīntiān shéi zhíbān?
Who's on duty today?
你旁边那个人是谁?
nǐ pángbiān nàge rén shì shéi?
Who's that person next to you?
谁想和我一起去吃饭?
shéi xiǎng hé wǒ yīqǐ qù chīfàn?
Who wants to go eat with me?