personal pronouns

Pronouns are words that take the place of a noun.

Traditional personal pronouns

The traditional personal pronouns are I, we, you, he, she, it and they (along with their different forms).

These pronouns refer to someone or something specific:

  • I and we refer to the persons speaking or writing (first person).
  • You refers to the person(s) receiving the message (second person).
  • He, she, it and they refer to persons or things being discussed (third person).

Case with personal pronouns

Personal pronouns change their form depending on what they are doing in a sentence. This is an important difference between personal pronouns and nouns.

A noun keeps the same form, whether it is used as a subject or an object.

  • Subject: Claude went skiing.
  • Object: Marianne helped Claude up the hill.

But if we replace the noun Claude in the examples above with a personal pronoun, the pronoun will change its form.

  • Subject: He went skiing.
  • Object: Marianne helped him up the hill.

A personal pronoun that is the subject of the sentence must be in the subject form (e.g. he). A personal pronoun that is the object of a verb must be in the object form (e.g. him). The term “case” refers to the different forms a pronoun can take when it is a subject or an object, or is used to show possession. 

Subject case

The subject forms for personal pronouns are as follows:

  • First person: I, we
  • Second person: you
  • Third person: he, she, it; they

Subject case is used for subjects or subject complements.

  • Subject: He and Andrea went out for dinner; then they watched a movie. 
  • Subject complement: It was I who left the message.

Object case

The object forms for personal pronouns are as follows:

  • First person: me, us
  • Second person: you
  • Third person: him, her, it; them

Object case is used for direct and indirect objects of verbs and for objects of prepositions:

  • Direct object: When the thieves ran off, the police pursued them.
  • Indirect object: John gave me a new coat for Christmas.
  • Object of preposition: I met Diane and went for a walk with her.

Possessive case

The possessive forms for personal pronouns are as follows:

  • First person: mine, ours
  • Second person: yours
  • Third person: his, hers, its; theirs

The possessive case is used to show ownership:

  • That book is mine.
  • Did you forget yours?

Possessive adjectives

Personal pronouns have a second set of possessive forms that are used to modify nouns:

  • First person: my, our
  • Second person: your
  • Third person: his, her, its; their

These possessive forms are usually referred to as “possessive adjectives” because, even though they are pronoun forms, they function as a type of modifier:

  • I lost my keys.
  • Where is your house?
  • The dog hurt its paw.

Neopronouns

Since the eighteenth century, a number of new personal pronouns have been proposed at various times, as a way to provide a gender-inclusive alternative to the singular pronouns he and she.

Several of these new pronouns (often called “neopronouns”) are in use today by some people who are transgender, non-binary or gender-diverse. The table below shows different forms of one neopronoun, ze, with the possessive form hir.

Subject Object Possessive Possessive Adjective

ze

(pronounced “zee”)

hir

(pronounced “heer”)

hirs

(pronounced “heers”)

hir

(pronounced “heer”)

The following examples illustrate how this neopronoun and its forms may be used in a sentence:

  • Subject: When I spoke to Elisa, ze told me ze would be coming.
  • Subject complement: Have you met Omar? It was ze who organized the meeting.
  • Direct object: Are you looking for Gord? I saw hir in the cafeteria.
  • Indirect object: When Chris delivered the training, the participants gave hir an excellent rating.
  • Object of a preposition: Samina invited us to go with hir.
  • Possessive: Jessica said the blue van was hirs.
  • Possessive adjective: Jean-Marc finished hir work early.

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