Personal Pronouns in English

Gender, number and functions of personal pronouns in a sentence. Singular and plural forms.

Personal pronouns in English are: I, he, she, it, we, you, they.

• In conversational speech the “me” pronoun is usually used instead of “I” – Who is there? – It`s me.
• There are singular personal pronouns (I, he, she, it) and plural personal pronouns (we, they).
• The “You” pronoun in the second person has the same form for both singular and plural (Being a teacher, you must help him. You should do it together.)
• He, she, it pronouns in the third person singular have a category of gender.

The “he” pronoun is used to refer to male beings (boy, father, uncle, man).

The “she” pronoun is used to refer to female beings (mother, aunt, sister, woman).

The “it” pronoun is used to refer to inanimate beings and things (table, tree) and animals (dog, cat). It is noteworthy that the English noun “baby” refers to the neuter gender. (This baby makes too much noise. She should soothe it.)

• As some nouns that describe animate objects could belong to both male and female gender (servant, friend, cousin), personal pronouns are used to determine their gender. (Tell her friend that he has to do the report by Monday. – Tell it to a friend that he will make a report by Monday).

Personal pronouns could have different functions in a sentence:

Subject: I was not sure if it was a good idea or not. (I – subject)

Predicate: Who is there? – It is me. (Me – predicate)

Object: He asked me to meet him at the railway station. (Him – object).