Personal Pronouns: How and When to Use Them

Hmm… Which personal pronouns to use? He or Him? Me or I?

Sound familiar? They may seem easy, but personal pronouns can get tricky.

As an English learner, you’ve probably stopped mid- or end-sentence wondering whether you’ve used the correct pronoun. A mistake in personal pronoun use can be quickly clarified most of the time, while at other times it can lead to confusion.

In this article, we'll cover personal pronoun rules in detail so you’ll stop hesitating about which pronoun to use when speaking or writing. By the end of this reading, picking between she and her will not take you longer than a quick second.

What is a personal pronoun?

Personal pronouns are one of many different types of pronouns used in English. They’re usually the first [grammar point]https://www.busuu.com/en/english/grammar-rules() you learn about while studying a language. We use personal pronouns to refer to people and things without using their names.

You probably know that complete sentences in English are composed of a subject and a verb, and often one or more objects too:

The teacher brought new decorations for the classroom.
(subject) (verb) (direct object) (indirect object)

Personal pronouns replace a sentence's subject or object (or both). The above sentence can thus become:

She brought them for it.

We use personal pronouns for two reasons:

1. We don’t want to repeat ourselves when speaking about the same subject or object:
   

Without pronouns: Susan bought a dress. Susan wore the dress to the party. With pronouns: Susan bought a dress. She wore it to the party.

2. We’re unsure about a person’s name or title, but we still need to refer to them.

Speaker A: Who is he? Speaker B: He’s the new manager.

You can use personal pronouns to refer to both proper and common nouns. Check out our detailed review of nouns in English if you’re confused about the difference between proper and common nouns.

Personal pronouns list

Take a look at the personal pronouns list below:

If the pronouns in the table look familiar to you, that’s because you use personal pronouns all the time when you’re speaking in English!

But they can be confusing to use, too. For example, what’s the difference between "he" and "him"? Why is the word "you" on the table four times?

These differences relate to who is doing or receiving the action in the sentence, the ‘number’ of what is being referred to, and whether it’s male, female or neutral.

Using personal pronouns correctly

Using personal pronouns correctly is simple if you understand how the different aspects of the pronouns are used to replace a noun.

To determine which personal pronoun to use, you should know the grammatical person, gender, number and function of the noun being replaced.

Grammatical person: First, second, or third person pronouns?

As the name states, a personal pronoun refers to a ‘person.’ This is not always an actual human being – rather, the ‘person’ the pronoun refers to is the relationship of the noun to the speaker.

First-person pronouns These are used when the speaker is referring to himself as an individual or as part of a group. They include I, we, me, and us.

Examples:

• We haven’t decided where to go on our next vacation.
  
• The teacher told me to continue studying.

Second-person pronouns The speaker uses second-person pronouns to address someone directly. The personal pronoun you is used in this case.

Examples:

• Did you know Wembley Stadium is England’s national football stadium?
• The students told you they loved the class.

Third-person pronouns The rest of the personal pronouns in the list above refer to a third party not being addressed in the conversation and which does not include the speaker. In this case, we use it, he, him, she, her, they, or them.

Examples:

• I like the bag, but it’s expensive.
• My neighbors recommended him for the job
• The children don’t like staying indoors. They love spending time outside.
• He is a good friend. I can always count on him.

Number: Singular or plural personal pronouns?

The grammatical person is not the only aspect of the pronoun to consider. Choosing the correct pronoun based on whether it refers to a singular or plural noun is also key.

Use the first person singular pronouns, I or me, when referring to one person, the speaker:

• I woke up late for work! My boss gave me a warning!

We and us are the first-person plural pronouns used when referring to the speaker as part of a group:

• We’ve just arrived. The waiter is looking for a table for us.

Third-person singular pronouns include he, him, she, her, and it, and tell us that the subject or object being referred to is singular, while the third-person plural pronouns they and them tell us the object or subject consists of more than one person or item.

In the example below, the singular pronoun he refers to one person, speaker B’s child:

Speaker A: How many children do you have?
Speaker B: I have one child. He is 5 years old.

In the conversation below, speaker B uses the singular pronoun it to refer to the single noise that speaker A asks about. In the last line, speaker A uses the plural pronoun them to refer to the kids speaker B mentions. Speaker A also uses the singular pronoun it to refer to the TV.

Speaker A: What is that noise?
Speaker B: It’s the TV. The kids are watching a movie.
Speaker A: Can you tell them to turn it down?

Note: We use the pronoun it to refer to animals, objects, or things like ‘noise,’ while he and she are used for people and animals only. However, the third-person plural pronouns they and them can refer to people, animals, objects and anything else.

In this example, plural pronoun them refers to the concert tickets:

• I bought some tickets to the concert, and I got them via email.

Second-person singular pronouns and plural pronouns

Unlike first-person and third-person personal pronouns, second-person personal pronouns consist of a single word, you, for both singular and plural nouns:

• Are you our new colleague?
• You need to help your parents with household chores.

In the first example, it’s clear that the pronoun you refers to a singular noun – our new colleague.

In the second example, however, the reader doesn’t know whether the pronoun you refers to one person or more than one person.

When the second-person personal pronoun is used, we typically know the number of the noun from the context of the conversation.

If we’re reading a text, there will be details that show whether you refers to one or more people:

• He spoke to the children firmly, “You need to help your parents with household chores.”

You can also clarify whether the pronoun you refers to a single person or multiple people by either adding the name of the person or people or by using words like all, both or a specific number:

• Thomas, would you like to come over for dinner on Friday?
• I told you both to finish your homework before watching TV!
• You three are in charge of preparing the next meeting.

Personal pronouns by gender

Gender is important only when referring to the third person. We use the third-person singular personal pronouns he and him, she and her to refer to a man or a woman, respectively.

In English we use the gender-neutral pronouns, they and them, to refer to groups of two or more – men, women or mixed groups.

• This is our new colleague Sarah. She is the one who created the wonderful presentation you received.
• Pedro wasn’t the one who prepared the dinner. I told him I would prepare it.

Remember that we only use he, him, she and her to refer to people. Objects do not have a gender in English.

We wouldn’t say, “The table is beautiful, but she is expensive.”

Instead, we say, “The table is beautiful, but it’s expensive” because the table is an object, not a person.

There are times when we might not want to indicate a noun’s gender or when we’re unsure of the gender of the person we’re speaking of. In this case, we can use the gender-neutral plural pronouns they and them to refer to a single individual:

• Jamal is our downstairs neighbor. They often check in with us to see if we need anything.
• A customer left us a nice review on our website. I would love to thank them with a discount coupon.

Subject or object personal pronouns

The last thing that you need to know to use personal pronouns is the function of the noun being replaced in the sentence. In other words, you need to know if the pronoun will replace a subject or an object in the sentence.

When replacing the subject of a sentence, we use a subject pronoun from the personal pronouns listed below.

Subject personal pronouns:

• I
• you
• he
• she
• it
• we
• they

Examples:

• The gifts under the Christmas trees looked enormous! They took up a lot of space underneath the tree.
• My siblings and I saved up to buy my mom a new house. We spent two years working on this goal.

In the first sentence, the subject pronoun they replaces the noun the gifts, which is the subject of the sentence. In the second sentence, the subject pronoun we replaces the subject of the sentence, ‘My siblings and I.’

You can see how using pronouns helps us avoid repeating the nouns we’re referencing.

When using the pronoun it as the subject of the sentence along with the verb ‘to be,’ don’t forget to use an apostrophe to distinguish it from the possessive adjective its.

Incorrect: Its a beautiful day.

Correct: It’s a beautiful day.

Take a quick look at our guide to mastering possessive adjectives in English if you need a refresher.

In contrast to subject pronouns, object pronouns replace the object of a sentence, including both direct and indirect objects. They are also used following prepositions. The list below contains the object personal pronouns.

Object personal pronouns:

• me
• you
• him
• her
• it
• us
• them

Examples: In the sentence below, we replace the direct object ‘the windows’ with the object pronoun them:

• The windows are covered in dust. I need to wipe them clean!

In the following sentence, him replaces the indirect object ‘our dog’:

• I spent a lot of money on our dog this week. I bought him some new toys and a nice pillow to sleep on.

And in this example, we replaced ‘the laundry basket’ with it following the preposition in:

• Don’t leave your dirty laundry on the floor. We bought the laundry basket so you could put your clothes in it!

Keep in mind that regardless of the noun being replaced, all pronouns are written in lowercase letters unless they are at the beginning of a sentence. The only exception is the pronoun I, which is always capitalized.

Personal pronouns recap

This deep dive into personal pronouns will hopefully fill in any gaps you might have had about the topic. Personal pronouns help us avoid repetition and aid us in speaking and writing when we’re not sure about what to call something or someone.

To recap, when using a personal pronoun in a sentence, make sure it’s clear to the listener or reader which noun the pronoun refers to. Check the grammatical person of the noun you’re replacing, its gender, and whether it’s singular or plural. Also, determine whether the noun you’re replacing is a subject or object in the sentence.

Overall, English personal pronouns are not all that hard to use with a little practice. If you spend a little time using English each day, you will soon learn to recognize which personal pronoun to use in any sentence.