English personal pronouns

For other types of pronouns, see English grammar: Pronouns. For older forms see Old
English pronouns.
The personal pronouns in English take various forms according to number, person, case and
natural gender. Modern English has very little inflection of nouns or adjectives, to the point
where some authors describe it as an analytic language, but the Modern English system of
personal pronouns has preserved some of the inflectional complexity of Old English and
Middle English.

Forms of personal pronouns

Unlike nouns, which are undeclined for case except for possession (woman/woman's),
English personal pronouns have a number of forms, which are named according to their
typical grammatical role in a sentence:

subjective (nominative) case (I, we, etc.), used as the subject of a verb (see also Case
usage below).
objective (oblique) case (me, us, etc.), used as the object of a verb or of a preposition
(see also Case usage below). The same forms are also used as disjunctive pronouns.

reflexive form (myself, ourselves, etc.). This typically refers back to a noun or
pronoun (its antecedent) within the same clause (for example, She cut herself). This
form is also sometimes used optionally in a non-reflexive function, as a substitute for a
non-reflexive pronoun (for example, For someone like myself, . . . , This article
was written by Professor Smith and myself), though some style guides recommend
avoiding such use. The same reflexive forms also are used as intensive pronouns (for
example, She made the dress herself).

two possessive (genitive) forms, used to indicate the possessor of something (in a
broad sense). The first group (my, our, etc.) are used as determiners (possessive
determiners, also called possessive adjectives), coming together with a noun, as in my
house. The second group (mine, ours, etc.) are used as pronouns (as in I prefer mine)
or as predicate adjectives (as in this book is mine). For details see English possessive.

Table of basic personal pronouns

The basic personal pronouns of modern English are shown in the table below. (For the
distinction between the forms, see the previous section, and Case usage below.)
Personal pronouns in standard Modern English
Singular
Plural
Possessi Possess
Possessi Possess
Subje Obje
ve
ive Reflexiv Subje Obje
ve
ive Reflexi
ct
ct determi pronou
e
ct
ct determi pronou ve
ner
n
ner
n

First
Second

me
you

my

mine

myself

your

yours

yourself

Masculi
he him
ne
Feminin
she
her
e
Thir
Neuter
it
d
Nonspec
they
ific

them

their

his

we

us

you

our

ours

your

yours

their

theirs

ourselve
s
yourselv
es

himself
hers

herself
itself they
themself

its
theirs

them

themsel
ves

(themsel
ves)

Other English pronouns which have distinct forms of the above types are the indefinite
pronoun one, which has the reflexive oneself (the possessive form is written one's, like a
regular English possessive); and the interrogative and relative pronoun who, which has the
objective form whom (now confined mostly to formal English) and the possessive whose
(which in its relative use can also serve as the possessive for which).

Archaic and non-standard forms

Apart from the standard forms given above, English also has a number of non-standard,
informal and archaic forms of personal pronouns.

An archaic set of second-person singular pronouns is thou, thee, thyself, thy, thine.
They were used as a familiar form, like French tu and German du. They passed out of
general use between 1600 and 1800, although they (or variants of them) survive in
some English and Scottish dialects and in some Christian religious communities. For
details see thou.

Singular
Possessive
Possessive
Subject
Object
Reflexive
determiner
pronoun
Second
thou
thee
thy
thine
thyself
In archaic language, mine and thine may be used in place of my and thy when
followed by a vowel sound.

For the use of me instead of I, see I (pronoun) #Me mistaken for I

An archaic form of plural you as a subject pronoun is ye. Some dialects now use ye
in place of you, or as an apocopated or clitic form of you. See ye (pronoun).

A non-standard variant of my (particularly in British dialects) is me. (This may have

its origins in the fact that in Middle English my before a consonant was pronounced
[mi:], like modern English me, (while me was [me:], similar to modern may) and this
was shortened to [mi] or [m], as the pronouns he and we are nowadays; [hi wz] he
was; versus [t wz hi:] it was he. As this vowel was short, it was not subject to the
Great Vowel Shift, and so emerged in modern English unchanged.)

Informal second-person plural forms (particularly in American dialects) include you

all, y'all, youse. Other variants include: yous, you/youse guys, you/youse gals, youuns, yis, yinz. Possessives may include you(r) guys's, you(r) gals's, yous's, y'all's (or
y'alls). Reflexives may be formed by adding selves after any of the possessive forms.
See y'all, yinz, yous. Yous is common in Scotland, particularly in the Central Belt
area (though in some parts of the country, ye is used for the plural you).

In informal speech them is often replaced by 'em, believed to be a survival of the late
Old English form heom, which appears as hem in Chaucer, losing its aspiration due to
being used as an unstressed form. (The forms they, them etc. are of Scandinavian
origin.)

The plural forms they, them, etc. are sometimes used with singular meaning when
referring to a person, particularly to avoid awkwardness when the gender of the
referent is unknown or unspecified. See the section below and the article on singular
they for more details.

Non-standard reflexive forms ourself and themself are sometimes used in contexts
where we and they are used with singular meaning (see we and singular they).

Non-standard reflexive forms hisself and theirselves/theirself are sometimes used

(though would be considered incorrect in standard English).

A more complete table, including the standard forms and some of the above forms, is given
below. Nonstandard, informal and archaic forms are in italics.
Personal pronoun
Object
Subject
Reflexive
Firstperson

Singular

Plural
Second- Singular
person

Plural

Standard
(archaic
formal)
Archaic
informal
Standard
Archaic
Nonstandard

Third- Singular Masculine

Possessive
pronoun
mine

Possessive
determiner

me

myself

we

us

ours

you

you

ourselves
ourself
yourself

my
mine (before
vowel)
me (esp.
BrE)
our

yours

your

thou

thee

thyself

thine

you
ye
you all
y'all
youse
etc. (see
above)
he*

you
yourselves
you
yourselves
you all y'all's (or
y'alls) selves
y'all
youse

yours
yours
y'all's (or
y'alls)

thy
thine (before
vowel)
your
your
y'all's (or
y'alls)

him*

his*

his*

himself

person
Feminine
she
Neuter
it
Epicene (see they
singular they)
Plural
Generic

Formal
Informal
Interrogative/relative pronoun

they
one
you
who

hisself
her
herself
it
itself
them themself
themselves
theirself
theirselves
them themselves
theirselves
one
oneself
you
yourself
whom

hers

theirs

her
its
their

theirs

their

one's
your
whose

one's
your
whose

who
* In religious usage, the pronouns He, Him, and His are often capitalized when referring to
the deity.
For further archaic forms, and information on the evolution of the personal pronouns of
English, see Old English pronouns.

Generic you
The pronoun you (and its other forms) can be used as a generic or indefinite pronoun,
referring to a person in general. A more formal equivalent is the indefinite pronoun one
(reflexive oneself, possessive one's). For example, you should keep your secrets to yourself
may be used in place of the more formal one should keep one's secrets to oneself.

Use of he, she and it

It and its are normally used to refer to an inanimate object or abstract concept. The
masculine pronouns, he and his are used to refer to male persons, whereas the feminine
pronouns, she and her are used to refer to female persons; however babies and young children
of indeterminate gender may sometimes be referred to as it (e.g. a child needs its mother).
Traditionally, in English, if the gender of a person was not known or ambiguous, then the
masculine pronouns were often used by default (e.g. a good student always does his
homework). Increasingly, though, singular they is coming to be used in such cases (see
below).
Animals are often referred to as it, but he and she are sometimes used for animals when the
animal's sex is known and is of interest, particularly for higher animals, especially pets and
other domesticated animals. Inanimate objects with which humans have a close relationship,
such as ships, cars and countries considered as political, rather than geographical, entities, are
sometimes referred to as she. This may also be extended to other entities, such as towns.
It is often considered rude to use a pronoun instead of a person's proper name while that
person is present. [citation needed] A typical rebuke common in British English if a third

party in the room is referred to as "she" is: "Who's 'she'? The cat's mother?" [citation needed]

Singular they
The plural pronoun they (and its derived forms them, their, etc.) can also be used to refer to
one person, particularly when the sex or social gender of that person is unknown or
unspecified. This is a way of producing gender-neutral language while avoiding disjunctive
constructions like he or she, he/she, or s/he .
Even when used with singular meaning, they takes a plural verb: If attacked, the victim should
remain exactly where they are.
Some usage writers condemn the use of the singular they, but it is commonly used, both in
speech and in writing (e.g. " If a customer requires help, they should contact... "), and its
use can be traced back as far as Middle English. This usage is authorised and preferred by
the Australian Government Manual of Style for official usage in government documents.
[citation needed] Those who wish to avoid the use of the "singular they" can sometimes do so
by rephrasing the sentence using a plural noun (e.g. " For assistance, customers should
contact their...").

Case usage
As noted above, most of the personal pronouns have distinct case forms a subjective
(nominative) form and an objective (oblique, accusative) form. In certain instances variation
arises in the use of these forms.
As a general rule, the subjective form is used when the pronoun is the subject of a verb, as in
he kicked the ball, whereas the objective form is used as the direct or indirect object of a verb,
or the object (complement) of a preposition. For example: Sue kicked him, someone gave
him the ball, Mary was with him.
When used as a predicative expression, i.e. as the complement of a form of the copula verb
be, the subjective form was traditionally regarded as more correct (as in this is I, it was he),
but nowadays the objective form is used predominantly (this is me, it was him), and the use of
the subjective in such instances is normally regarded as very formal or pedantic; it is more
likely (in formal English) when followed by a relative clause (it is we who sent them to die).
In some cases the subjective may even appear ungrammatical, as in *is that we in the
photograph? (where us would be expected).
When a pronoun is linked to other nouns or pronouns by a coordinating conjunction such as
and or or, traditional grammar prescribes that the pronoun should appear in the same form as
it would take if it were used alone in the same position: Jay and I will arrive later (since I is
used for the subject of a verb), but between you and me (since me is used for the object of a
preposition). However in informal and less careful usage this rule may not be consistently
followed; it is common to hear Jay and me will arrive... and between you and I. The latter
type (use of the subjective form in object position) is seen as an example of hypercorrection,
resulting from an awareness that many instances of and me (like that in the first example) are
considered to require correction to and I.

Similar deviations from the grammatical norm are quite common in other examples where the
pronoun does not stand alone as the subject or object, as in Who said us Yorkshiremen
[grammatical: we Yorkshiremen] are tight?
When a pronoun stands alone without an explicit verb or preposition, the objective form is
commonly used, even when traditional grammarians might prefer the subjective: Who's sitting
here? Me. (Here I might be regarded as grammatically correct, since it is short for I am
(sitting here), but it would sound formal and pedantic, unless followed by am.)
A particular case of this type occurs when a pronoun stands alone following the word than.
Here the objective form is again predominant in informal usage (they are older than us), as
would be expected if than were analyzed as a preposition. However traditionally than is
considered a conjunction, and so in formal and grammatically careful English the pronoun
often takes the form that would appear if than were followed by a clause: they are older than
we (by analogy with ...than we are), but she likes him better than me (if the intended meaning
is "...than she likes me").
For more examples of some of these points, see Disjunctive pronoun.