pronouns
They replace nouns
Pronouns are words that stand in for nouns—I, you, he, she, it, we, they, and others.
They prevent repetition: instead of Sarah said Sarah would bring Sarah's car, we say Sarah said she would bring her car.
Different forms mark grammatical role: subject (I, he, they), object (me, him, them), possessive (my, his, their).
In recent usage, pronouns often refers specifically to the set someone uses for themselves: What are your pronouns?
This reflects growing attention to gender identity, where individuals may prefer they/them, she/her, he/him, or neopronouns like ze/zir.
"I" as narrator
- second-personGrammar addressing the audience
- third-personGrammatical category for others
- IFirst-person subject pronoun
- youThe person addressed
Male subject pronoun
her · his · hers · neuter · gendered · gender-neutral · epicene · non-binary
Something that precedes
- agreementShared position between parties
- caseContainer or instance
- nominativeCase marking sentence subjects
- accusativeCase for direct objects
genitive · dative · declension · reflexive · intensive · interrogative · relative · demonstrative
One's own being
- IFirst-person subject pronoun
- meFirst-person object pronoun
- myselfFirst-person reflexive pronoun
- personhoodStatus as a person
self-identification · self-reference · first-person · autonomy · agency · self-expression · individuality · subjectivity
Overly attached, often toxically
First-person reflexive pronoun
- yourselfReflexive second person
- himselfReflexive male pronoun
- herselfFeminine reflexive pronoun
- itselfReflexive neuter pronoun
ourselves · yourselves · themselves · themself · reflexive · intensive · emphatic · self-reference
first-person
"I" as narrator
- second-personGrammar addressing the audience
- third-personGrammatical category for others
- IFirst-person subject pronoun
he
Male subject pronoun
him · her · his · hers · neuter · gendered · gender-neutral · epicene · non-binary · ze
antecedent
Something that precedes
- agreementShared position between parties
- caseContainer or instance
- nominativeCase marking sentence subjects
accusative · genitive · dative · declension · reflexive · intensive · interrogative · relative · demonstrative · indefinite
self
One's own being
personhood · self-identification · self-reference · first-person · autonomy · agency · self-expression · individuality · subjectivity · persona
possessive
Overly attached, often toxically
hers · its · ours · theirs · whose · my · your · her · our · their
myself
First-person reflexive pronoun
itself · ourselves · yourselves · themselves · themself · reflexive · intensive · emphatic · self-reference · introspective
- gendergender, male, female, masculine, feminine
- Arabicba, ta, alphabet, vocabulary lists, greetings
- grammardeclension, adjectives, conjugation, nouns, verbs
- HindiDevanagari script, verb conjugation, tenses, nouns, verbs
- Hungariangoulash, paprika, Budapest, Magyar, puszta
- LGBTQgay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer
pronounsnouns
Words naming entities
proper nouns · common nouns · substantives · verbs · noun phrases
pronounsproper names
Specific identifying titles
names · titles · epithets · full names · designations
- object pronounsWords replacing noun recipients
- subject pronounPronoun as sentence actor
- relative pronounAntecedent-referring clause introducer
- preferred pronounsSelf-specified gender terms
- gender-neutral pronounsWords without sex distinction
- (my) pronounsPreferred self-reference terms
pronoun, personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, reflexive pronouns, subject pronouns