You use personal pronouns to refer to yourself, the person you are speaking to, and other people or things. Choose the form that fits its job: I called them, but they called me.
A pronoun can stand for a person or thing without repeating the name. Personal pronouns include I, you, he, she, it, we and they. Several have a different form when they are the object of a verb or preposition.
| Subject form | Object form |
|---|---|
| I | me |
| you | you |
| he | him |
| she | her |
| it | it |
| we | us |
| they | them |
I and me refer to the speaker or writer. You refers to the listener or reader. We and us include the speaker and other people. They and them can refer to more than one person or thing, and they can also refer to one person.
You has the same form for one person and for a group. It also has the same form as subject and object. It does not become a different word just because you are speaking to several people.
You all can make it clear that you mean everyone in a group. It still uses the object or subject form you: Are you all ready? I have a copy for you all.
Cambridge also records informal us meaning me, as in Give us a moment when one person is asking for time. This is a spoken variant, not a reason to replace every me with us in careful writing.
I is written with a capital letter, including in the middle of a sentence. The other forms do not need a capital letter unless they start a sentence.
The subject is the person or thing the verb says something about. It can do an action, have a feeling, or be in a state. In a statement, the subject normally comes before the verb.
An object can be the person or thing affected by the verb. Use me, you, him, her, it, us or them in that position.
The same person can be a subject in one sentence and an object in another. Do not choose I or me just because the person is you; look at the job in the sentence.
You, it and the other pronouns still need the right verb form. You are and they are use are, including when you means one person or they means one person. I am, he is, she is and it is have different forms. See am, is and are: the verb be in the present and Subject-verb agreement: finding the subject and choosing the verb.
A subject pronoun stays a subject pronoun in a question. With be, it follows the verb: Are you ready? With do, have or a modal such as can, it follows that helping verb.
An object pronoun can appear later in the same question. The word after the helping verb is not automatically the only pronoun in the sentence.
Negatives also keep the subject and object forms. Do not change a subject to an object form because not is present.
For question word order, see Question forms: yes/no and wh- questions.
Use an object form after a preposition, a word such as for, with, to, at or between that links its following words to the rest of the sentence.
This applies when the preposition has two people after it too: between you and me, not between you and I in the standard pattern. The next section explains paired phrases.
Some verbs need a preposition before the person: listen to me, wait for her. Other verbs take the pronoun directly: call me, help her. The choice of preposition belongs to the verb, not to the pronoun table.
See Verb + preposition for verb and preposition patterns. With a separable phrasal verb, the pronoun has its own position: turn it off, not turn off it in that pattern. See Phrasal verbs: where the object goes.
In standard writing, use subject forms when the whole phrase is the subject. Use object forms when the whole phrase is an object or follows a preposition. Adding and does not make I the right choice everywhere.
To check the form, try the sentence with the other person's name removed: I checked the locks; the caretaker thanked me; the keys are with me.
Cambridge records my friends and me as a subject in informal speech and says my friends and I is considered more correct. The BBC recommends keeping the subject/object distinction. Use Rosa and I checked as the safe standard-writing pattern; do not treat the informal variant as proof that me works as every kind of subject.
After be, you can use an object form to identify someone: It's me, That's her, It was them. Here the pronoun tells you who the subject is; it is not an object receiving an action.
Cambridge describes It is I as very formal. Subject forms can occur after be in some formal contexts, so do not mark every It was he wrong. The object form is the ordinary pattern taught here.
You can also use an object form as a short answer without a verb, especially in informal speech. With a full subject-and-verb answer, use the subject form.
Me too shows that you agree with an affirmative statement. For negative agreement and answers with helping verbs, see Both, either and neither: both doors, either of them, neither answer and Short answers, so do I, neither do I, and I think so.
After than or as in a comparison, an object form can stand alone. A subject form can introduce a fuller clause with a verb. The BBC gives both patterns; the second is not a reason to call the first wrong.
Choose the pronoun for the meaning too. In I helped Sam more than her, her might be another person I helped. If you mean I helped Sam more than she helped Sam, write than she did to make that clear. See Comparatives and As and like.
Use a person's pronouns when you know them. He and him and she and her have subject and object forms. They and them also have subject and object forms when they refer to one person.
Use they and them for a person whose gender is unknown or not relevant. Singular they can refer back to a friend, a visitor, someone or anyone. It does not mean you have discovered that there are several people.
They also refers to a known person who uses they as their pronoun. APA Style recommends using the pronouns the person uses, rather than guessing from a name, appearance or job.
Keep the verb forms they are, they have and they do, even for one person. The noun itself still takes a singular verb: Alex is here; they are here. See Subject-verb agreement: finding the subject and choosing the verb.
British Council beginner teaching includes singular they. That describes those features in its learner data, not a rule that beginners cannot use they for one person. Cambridge also lists he or she alternatives; APA recommends singular they for generic reference and discourages slash forms such as he/she. This page follows that recommendation.
Use it for a thing referred to as singular, or for an uncountable amount. Use they and them for plural things as well as plural people.
The reader or listener must know what the pronoun means. If two people or things could fit, repeat a name or noun instead of making the reader guess.
It can also refer to a situation or action rather than a physical object. The British Council confirms that It might help you can refer to going to a doctor, while They might help you refers to the doctor.
For this and that referring to things or whole ideas, see this, that, these, those: pointing to things and people. For a new object of the same type, compare One and ones: a smaller one, the ones by the door: I lost my charger and bought a new one. It would refer to the identified charger; it cannot replace one after a new in that phrase.
You can use it for an animal, especially when you do not know it personally. He or she can be used for pets and other animals when you treat them as individuals. The BBC also describes he and she in wildlife programmes and stories; it is not a rule that wild animals must be it.
Places, countries, vehicles and machines can take it. Cambridge records traditional she for ships and similar things, but it is the neutral choice taught here.
It can identify a person on the phone, at the door, or when you point them out. This is a specific identification pattern, not permission to replace every he, she or they with it when speaking about a person.
It's means it is in these examples. This is is another way to introduce yourself on the phone; see this, that, these, those: pointing to things and people.
Sometimes it does not refer to a person or object. It fills the subject position in expressions about weather and time. This is called an empty or dummy subject.
For it is useful to check, I find it useful to check, it seems and more advanced patterns, see Dummy it and preparatory it: it's raining, it's nice to meet you, I find it strange that. For introducing something with there is or there are, see There is and there are: saying that something exists.
You can mean people in general, not the listener in particular. We can include the speaker with a wider group of people. The context tells you whether the words refer to a specific group or a general situation.
In ordinary group reference, we includes the speaker but may or may not include the listener. We are coming to collect you refers to a group that does not include the person being collected. We does not have to mean you and I together.
They can refer to people responsible for a service, institution or decision, even without naming them individually. They refers to the people behind the organisation in this pattern; it is not a new singular form of the word company.
One can also mean people in general. Cambridge calls this much more formal than you or we and rare in speech. It takes a singular verb. It is different from one meaning a number or a replacement for a countable noun.
See One and ones: a smaller one, the ones by the door for a different use of one.
In a full statement or question, include the subject unless a particular omission pattern allows it. A pronoun can supply the subject when you do not want to repeat a noun. Do not learn a rule that every English clause must have a visible subject with no exceptions.
An instruction or request can begin with a verb without you. This is an imperative.
You can share the subject across connected parts when it is the same: I opened the window and checked the view. I is not repeated before checked.
Informal conversation and messages can also leave out an obvious subject: Hope the repairs go well means I hope the repairs go well. Cambridge calls this ellipsis, leaving out words that can be understood. It is not a model for dropping pronouns at random in careful writing.
See Imperatives and let's: instructions, orders and suggestions and Substitution and ellipsis for these patterns.
✗Can you send I the details?
✓Can you send me the details?
Me is the object form for the person receiving the details.
✗This parcel is for they.
✓This parcel is for them.
Use the object form them after for.
✗Alex uses they. They is waiting outside.
✓Alex uses they. They are waiting outside.
Singular they still takes the verb form are, not is.
See my, your, his and mine, yours, his: possessive adjectives and pronouns for my and mine, Reflexive pronouns and each other: myself, themselves, by yourself for myself and each other, this, that, these, those: pointing to things and people for demonstratives, and Dummy it and preparatory it: it's raining, it's nice to meet you, I find it strange that for empty and introductory it.
Eight questions. Choose one answer for each.