English pronouns
The short answer
English has five pronoun sets: subject (I, he, they), object (me, him, them), possessive adjectives (my, his, their), possessive pronouns (mine, his, theirs) and reflexives (myself, himself, themselves). Position in the sentence decides which one you need, and the test is whether the word sits before the verb or after it.
The rule
A pronoun stands in for a noun already known. English pronouns change form according to their job in the sentence rather than according to the gender of the thing they replace, which is the opposite of most European languages. The subject form goes before the verb, the object form after a verb or preposition, and the reflexive is used when the subject and object are the same person. Possessive adjectives sit before a noun; possessive pronouns replace the whole noun phrase and stand alone.
| Form | Structure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | before the verb | I, you, he, she, it, we, they |
| Object | after a verb or preposition | me, you, him, her, it, us, them |
| Possessive adjective | before a noun | my, your, his, her, its, our, their |
| Possessive pronoun | stands alone | mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs |
| Reflexive | same person as the subject | myself, yourself, himself, themselves |
| Relative | introduces a clause | who, whom, which, that, whose |
Part 1 of 3
Subject and object
The subject form goes before the verb: she called, and the object form after a verb or a preposition: I called her, it is for her. English never changes the pronoun for the gender of an object, only for the gender of a person.
The one place this reliably goes wrong is in compound subjects and objects. Test them by removing the other person: John and I went works because I went does; between you and I fails because between I does.
She and I are meeting later.
Subject, so she and I.
They invited my sister and me.
Object, so me, test it by dropping my sister.
It was a present for him and her.
After a preposition, so object forms.
Part 2 of 3
Possessives
Possessive adjectives come before a noun and never take an apostrophe: my car, their house, its colour. Possessive pronouns replace the whole phrase: that car is mine, the house is theirs.
Its and it’s are the pair most often confused, and the rule is simple: it’s always means it is or it has. Ours, yours, hers and theirs never take an apostrophe either: no possessive pronoun does.
Is this yours or hers?
Standing alone, so possessive pronouns.
The dog wagged its tail.
No apostrophe. Its is possessive.
It’s been a long day.
With an apostrophe, it means it has.
Part 3 of 3
Reflexives, and one-word pronouns
A reflexive is used when the subject and object are the same person: I hurt myself, she taught herself Greek. It also adds emphasis: I made it myself, which is a separate use.
English does not use reflexives nearly as freely as French or Spanish. There is no English equivalent of se lever or levantarse: you say I got up, not I got myself up. Adding a reflexive where English does not want one is a common transfer error.
He introduced himself to everyone.
Subject and object are the same person.
We built it ourselves.
Emphatic, not reflexive.
I get up at seven.
No reflexive, unlike je me lève or me levanto.
Mistakes to avoid
What learners actually get wrong
Between you and I, it was a mistake.
Between you and me, it was a mistake.
Between is a preposition and takes the object form. This error comes from over-correcting the schoolroom warning against me and you, and it is now so common it sounds educated. It is still wrong.
Me and him went to the match.
He and I went to the match.
Subject position takes subject forms. Drop the other person to test it: me went is obviously wrong, so the compound must be I.
The company changed it’s policy.
The company changed its policy.
It’s always means it is or it has. The possessive its takes no apostrophe, which looks inconsistent next to John’s and is simply how English works.
She washed herself and then dressed herself.
She washed and got dressed.
English drops the reflexive where the meaning is obvious. Keeping it is grammatical but sounds oddly deliberate, and it is a direct transfer from languages with pronominal verbs.
Questions
Asked and answered
- Is singular they acceptable?
- Yes, and it is centuries old. It is standard for a person of unknown gender, someone left their coat, and increasingly for a known person who uses it. Every major style guide now accepts it, and the alternatives are either clumsy or exclude people.
- Who or whom?
- Substitute he or him. If he fits, use who; if him fits, use whom. In modern English whom survives mainly after a preposition, with whom, to whom, and elsewhere who is normal in all but the most formal writing.
- Why does English have fewer pronoun forms than my language?
- Because English lost most of its case system. What remains is a subject-object distinction on personal pronouns and nothing on nouns, which is why word order does so much work. Languages that kept their cases can move words around far more freely.