Personal pronouns represent specific people or things. We use them depending on:
- Number: singular or plural. - Person: 1st person, 2nd person or 3rd person. - Gender: male, female or neutral. - Case: subject or object.
We use personal pronouns in place of the person or people that we are talking about. My name is Josef but when I am talking about myself I almost always use "I" or "me", not "Josef". When I am talking direct to you, I almost always use "you", not your name. When I am talking about another person, say John, I may start with "John" but then use "he" or "him". And so on.
Number
Person
Gender
Subject
Object
Determiner
Possessive
Reflexive
Singular
1st
male / female
I
Me
my
mine
myself
Singular
2nd
male / female
You
You
your
yours
yourself
Singular
3rd
male
He
Him
his
his
himself
Singular
3rd
female
She
Her
her
hers
herself
Singular
3rd
neutral
It
It
its
itself
Plural
1st
male / female
We
Us
our
ours
ourselves
Plural
2nd
male / female
You
You
your
yours
yourselves
Plural
3rd
male / female / neutral
They
Them
their
theirs
themselves
Subjects
I
You
He
She
It
We
You
They
Examples
I go to the movies.
You study English.
He has a cat.
She watches TV.
It is black.
We go to the mall.
You have a house.
They swim at the lake
Exercise
Check the correct option acording to the picture.
You
You
I
I
He
He
She
She
You
You
I
I
He
He
She
She
You
You
It
They
He
We
She
She
You
You
They
They
We
We
She
She
Objects
The seven basic pronouns have one form when they are used as subjects and another form when they are used as objects.
Object pronouns are used instead of nouns, usually because we already know what the object is. It makes the sentence easier to read and understand and avoids repetition. We normally use object pronouns after a verb or a preposition.
Me
You
Him
Her
It
Us
You
Them
Examples
Take me home.
What does she think about you?
They know him.
Look at her.
Try to get it.
She will come for us.
I like you guys.
He knows them.
Determiner
my
your
his
her
its
our
your
their
Examples
My car is white.
Your boat is there.
His dog is sick.
Her boots are nice.
Its cape is red.
Our game is tonight.
Your house is big.
Their university is near here.
Possessive
mine
yours
his
hers
ours
yours
theirs
Examples
This dog is mine.
That chair is yours.
This car is his.
The book is hers.
The prize is ours.
The stage is yours.
The problem is theirs.
Reflexive
myself
yourself
himself
herself
itself
ourselves
yourselves
themselves
Examples
I saw myself in the mirror.
Why do you blame yourself?
John sent himself a copy.
Mary sent herself a copy.
My dog hurt itself.
We blame ourselves.
Can you help yourselves?
They cannot look after themselves.
Single things.
When we are talking about a single thing, we almost always use it. However, there are a few exceptions. We may sometimes refer to an animal as he/him or she/her, especially if the animal is domesticated or a pet. Ships (and some other vessels or vehicles) as well as some countries are often treated as female and referred to as she/her. Here are some examples:
This is our dog Rusty. He's an Alsatian.
The Titanic was a great ship but she sank on her first voyage.
My first car was a Mini and I treated her like my wife.
Thailand has now opened her border with Cambodia.
Single person.
For a single person, sometimes we don't know whether to use he or she. There are several solutions to this:
If a teacher needs help, he orshe should see the principal.
If a teacher needs help, he should see the principal.
If a teacher needs help, they should see the principal.
Weather, temperature, time and distance.
We also often useit to talk about the weather, temperature, time and distance :
