Personal pronouns are words that point back to a noun or replace a noun. Remember, a noun is a word for a person, a place, an object, or even an idea.
In English, nouns do a lot of hard work! Let’s look at how we can give them a rest by replacing them with pronouns:
When I am talking about my dog, it might get boring if I say:
Let’s give that poor dog a break! 😉
To avoid repetition, we can use a personal pronoun in place of the noun phrase my dog. For example:
In this article, we will first introduce the idea of personal pronouns and then we will look at the subject pronouns and object pronouns in English. Let’s dive right in!
What are subject pronouns in English?
A subject pronoun replaces a noun that is the subject of a sentence. This means subject pronouns usually point to the person or thing that did the action.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
First person Point to the person or people who are talking | I  | we  |
Second person Point to the person or people you are talking to | you  | you  |
Third person Point to person, people, or things you are talking about | he, she, it, they  | they  |
Personal pronouns are split based on how many people or things you are referring to:
Singular personal pronouns point to one person or thing.
Plural personal pronouns point to more than one person or thing.
Personal pronouns are also split based on who is doing what in the conversation:
First person pronouns point to the person who is talking.
Second person pronouns point to the people who you are talking to.
Third person pronouns point to people or things that you are talking about.
Some personal pronouns (he/she/it) are also split based on gender. We’ll talk about this lower down.
Examples of singular personal pronouns in a sentence
Examples of plural personal pronouns in a sentence
How to use ‘he,’ ‘she,’ and ‘it’ in English?
We use the pronouns he, she, and it to refer to one thing or person that is not part of the conversation. We use he and she for people or animals, and it for objects or ideas. You can sometimes use it for an animal, but never for a person.
To use he and she correctly, though, we need to know the gender (male or female) of the person we are referring to.
She = feminine = for female people or animals
He= masculine = for male people or animals
Let’s look:
- femalemalePatricia is buying flour. She will make bread.Liam is buying eggs. He will make an omelet.My dog is swimming. She will be tired later.
We know that Patricia and my dog are female, because you use she. We know that Liam is male, because you use he.
We only use it to refer to non-human things or things that are not alive (like a book, or sometimes an animal!).
- We had sushi for dinner, and it was delicious!
- I saw a bee but it didn’t sting me.
What is singular ‘they’ in English?
In English, we sometimes use they to refer to just one person if we do not know that person’s gender. However, you can usually use the longer phrase he or she instead. Here is how to decide whether to use a phrase like he or she or they:
When speaking, most people will use they to refer to a person who is 100% unknown.
- Somebody left a backpack here, I hope they find it!
To refer to a person who you know a little bit about, some people will use he or she instead.
- You have an older sibling, right? How old is he or she?
However, in modern English many people will choose to use they:
- You have an older sibling, right? How old are they?
This is a newer usage of singular they.
In writing, some people will only accept he or she (or even just he) for all of the examples above, but they is now the standard in most style guides.
Singular they is also the most common pronoun in English for someone who is non-binary or genderfluid.
Can you leave out a subject pronoun in English?
In English, we almost always include the subject pronoun! In many other languages, you can drop the subject pronouns in a sentence, but not in English.
- ✅ They are going to the mall.
- ❌ Are going to the mall.
Even when a sentence doesn’t really have a subject, we still include a pronoun
- ✅ It is raining.
- ❌ Is raining.
This it is called “expletive it” or “empty it” and you can learn more from our post on empty it in English!
What are object pronouns in English?
Object pronouns are personal pronouns that replace a noun that is not the subject of a sentence. For example:
Let’s take a look at all of the subject and object pronouns together in a simple chart:
| Subject pronouns | Object pronouns | ||
|---|---|---|---|
singular | first person | I | me |
second person | you | you | |
third person | he, she, it | him, her, it | |
plural | first person | we | us |
second person | you | you | |
third person | they | them |
When to use an object pronoun?
Use an object pronoun to replace a noun that is not the subject of the sentence. Here are the three main places where you will use an object pronoun.
We use object pronouns for direct objects (a noun that directly undergoes the action):
Alex poked him on the shoulder.Who did Alex poke? Him! Therefore, him is a direct object)We use object pronouns for indirect objects (a noun that receives something or benefits from the action, but who does not directly undergo the action):
Sandy brought me a treat yesterday.Who is receiving a treat? Me! Therefore, “me” is an indirect object)We use object pronouns after prepositions:
prepositionSally walked away from me, toward you.
Should I say ‘you and I’ or ‘you and me’?
Sometimes in English, when we are choosing between me or I, it can get a little tricky! This can happen when we are deciding between using the phrase “you and me” or “you and I.”
Try my quick test to see which you should use: Remove the second person pronoun (“you”) and check if your sentence still makes sense! Let’s try an example. What do you think of this sentence?
Let’s try the test! Delete you and…
We know that ❌ with I is incorrect because with is a preposition, and we use object pronouns (me) after prepositions, not subject pronouns (I). Instead we should say: ✅ with me.
So the whole sentence should read:
In summary…
In this post, we covered the English personal pronouns and told you about subject and object pronouns.
Subject pronouns:I, you, he, she, it, we, they
Object pronouns: me, you, him, her, it, us, them
You can look back at the table above to review!
Remember:
We use the subject pronouns to replace the subject (the noun before the verb).
We use the object pronouns to replace a noun that is not the subject.
Before you leave, why don’t you see what you’ve learned here by trying these English personal pronoun activities? A key is included so you can check your work. Or, review the personal pronouns with this downloadable pronoun chart. Happy learning!
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