English Pronouns

Case and personal pronouns

✅ Subjective (nominative) case: use when the pronoun is part of the subject.

✅ Objective case: use when the pronoun is part of the object.

Person and personal pronouns

Personal pronouns are called personal because they show a person speaking, spoken to, or spoken about. They refer to a specific individual (singular) or group (plural).

I saw you when she talked to them.

• 1st person (the speaker): I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours
• 2nd person (the listener): you, your, yours
• 3rd person (someone or something else): he, she, it, they, him, her, them…

Number and personal pronouns

Number shows whether the pronoun refers to one person/thing or more than one. It also decides whether the verb takes a singular or plural form.

• He is late. (singular verb)
• We are late. (plural verb)

Remember: the pronoun you, whether singular or plural, always takes the plural form of the verb to be.

Gender and personal pronouns

In English, only 3rd-person singular pronouns show gender: he / him / his (masculine), she / her / hers (feminine), and it / its (neuter — for objects, animals when gender is unknown, and ideas).

• Alex is my brother. I like him.
• This is Nancy. She is ten.
• This is my watch. Please give it to me.
• The cat is sleeping. I like it.

The “empty” subject: it and there

Every English sentence needs a subject — even when there is no real “doer.” In those cases we use a dummy (empty) subject: it or there.

Use it for weather, time, dates, distance, and temperature:

• It is raining.
• It is three o’clock.
• It is ten miles to the city.

Use there + a form of be to say that something exists:

• There is a book on the desk. (singular)
• There are three books on the desk. (plural — the verb agrees with what follows)

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns show ownership or belonging. They replace a noun (and a possessive adjective) entirely, so they stand alone — not followed by a noun.

💡 Tip: Don’t confuse possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his…) with possessive adjectives (my, your, his…) — adjectives are always followed by a noun.

List: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs.

• This seat is mine.
• That backpack isn’t yours; it’s hers.
• Is this notebook theirs or ours?

See the Possessive Pronouns column in the personal pronouns table above to see how they match person and number.

Intensive pronouns

Intensive pronouns (also called emphatic pronouns) end in -self or -selves and are used to add emphasis to a noun or another pronoun.

💡 Tip: The sentence still makes sense even if you remove the intensive pronoun.

• The instructor himself ordered this product.
• We did all the work ourselves.
• I will handle this matter myself.

List: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, themselves, yourselves.

🎯 Quiz: Reflexive vs intensive

Reflexive pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are the same words as intensive pronouns, but they are used differently. A reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject of the sentence — the subject and the object are the same person or thing.

• He wanted to kick himself for making that comment.
• I bought myself a new shirt.
• She taught herself to play the piano.
• I went to the store by myself. (alone, without help)

Reflexive and intensive pronouns are often listed together, but remember: they are not used as simple subject or object pronouns. Don’t use them when you just need I or me.

🎯 Quiz: Reflexive vs intensive

Relative pronouns

A relative pronoun introduces a subordinate (relative) clause and connects that clause to a noun or pronoun earlier in the sentence. The extra clause gives more information about that noun.

List: who, whom, whose, whoever, whomever, which, whichever, that, what, whatever.

• It is a book that is difficult to ignore.
• The dog, which is a terrier, is four years old.
• I will consider renting or buying, whichever works out best.
• This is the person who helped me yesterday.

Who, whom, whose

Relative pronouns don’t change for gender, person, or number. Only who changes form for case:

• Subjective: who
• Objective: whom
• Possessive: whose

• The girl who told me the story lives down the street.
• The girl whom I chose will get a present.
• I am not sure whose that is.

Who vs. that (for people)

Both are acceptable for people in everyday English. Who is slightly more formal:

• The teacher who helped me is here.
• The teacher that helped me is here.

Use that or which for things and animals.

🎯 Quiz: Who / whom / whose 🎯 Quiz: Relative vs interrogative

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions. They introduce a sentence that asks for information.

List: who, whom, whose, what, which.

• Whom did you invite to the party?
• Which did you prefer?
• Who did what to whom?
• Whose bag is this?

🎯 Quiz: Relative vs interrogative ↗ See also: Conjunctions

Indefinite pronouns

Indefinite pronouns don’t refer to any specific person, place, or thing. They replace nouns without telling exactly which noun they replace.

List of indefinite pronouns

Always singular: another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, little, much, neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, other, somebody, someone, something

Always plural: both, few, many, others, several

Singular or plural (depending on what they refer to): all, any, more, most, none, some

💡 Tip: Indefinite pronouns ending in -one or -body are always singular (anyone, everyone, someone, anybody, somebody, nobody).

Always-singular examples

• Everybody can do something, but nobody can do everything.
• Either looks like a good option.
• Each is responsible for their own work. (singular they — modern usage)

Always-plural examples

• Few were late for the meeting.
• Many bought tickets to the show.
• Several have already arrived.

Singular or plural (context-dependent)

The verb form depends on what the pronoun refers to:

• There is a lot of furniture in the room; some is damaged. (some = furniture, uncountable → singular verb)
• There are many books there; some are very interesting. (some = books, countable plural → plural verb)
• All of the water is gone. (water = uncountable → singular verb)
• All of the students are ready. (students = plural → plural verb)

Reciprocal pronouns

Reciprocal pronouns show a mutual or shared action, feeling, or relationship between two or more people, animals, or things. There are two: each other and one another.

Each other is traditionally used for two people; one another for more than two. In modern English they’re often used interchangeably.

💡 Tip: A reciprocal pronoun is always the object of a verb or preposition — never the subject.

• John and Bob respect each other.
• The two cats groomed each other.
• We are commanded to love one another.
• The students looked at one another in surprise.

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns point to specific people, animals, places, things, or ideas. They show whether the thing is near or far and whether it is singular or plural.

• That is his book.
• This is an excellent question.
• I want to exchange this for that.
• These are delicious! Those were not as good.

Pointing to ideas and situations

Demonstrative pronouns also commonly refer to whole ideas, statements, or situations, not just physical objects:

• That’s a great idea!
• This is exactly what I meant.
• That’s not what I said.

✔️ Remember: Demonstrative pronouns stand alone. When they are followed by a noun, they are demonstrative adjectives instead.

• This is my favorite. (pronoun — no noun after it)
• This book is my favorite. (adjective — describes the noun “book”)