English Grammar: Pronouns

Pronouns are a very important part of the language. For example, a simple sentence "I love you". “I” is a pronoun, and “you” is a pronoun too. You see, it's an important topic!

So, let's find out more information about pronouns.

Subject pronouns

We use them instead of the subject.

• I am happy.
• You are hungry. 

“You” and “I” are subject pronouns. They are essentially pronouns in the nominative case. What other subject pronouns do you know?

• I (I like this blog)
• You (You are reading this right now)
• He (He is quite handsome)
• She (She is so cute)
• It (It’s my dog)
• They (They are listening to an interesting story)
• We (We study English together)

Object pronouns

Pronouns in indirect cases are object pronouns.

“He likes nuts” contains a subject pronoun (he). “I love him” contains an object pronoun (him).

Let’s practice:

1. Do you see me? (me – object, you – subject)
2. Does he talk to her every day? (her – object, he – subject)
3. Do you want to go with us? (you – subject, us – object)

Possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns

When something belongs to someone, we use possessive adjectives.

This is Jane’s car. This is HER car. “Her” is a possessive adjective. After possessive adjectives we have nouns.

If we are talking about two different cars that belong to different people, we don't need to use the word “car” twice. That's why we say this: This is my car, and this is hers. Hers = her car. “Hers” is a possessive pronoun. 

• It’s my cat. This cat is mine.
• This is his house. This house is his.

• Перша колонка - subject pronouns. Займенники в прямому відмінку.
• Друга колонка - object pronouns. Займенники в непрямих відмінках.
• Третя колонка - possessive adjectives. Після них ми використовуємо nouns.
• Четверта колонка - possessive pronouns. Після них ми не використовуємо nouns. 

There are some other pronouns.

Demonstrative pronouns

• This – one thing, close (This apple is very tasty. This is very tasty.)
• These – many things, close (These apples are very good. These are very good.)
• That – one thing, far (That apple is green. That is green.)
• Those – many things, far (Those apples were very expensive. Those were expensive.)

Far and close can be not only in space, but also in time: I was very happy that day (That day – a day long ago).

Interrogative pronouns

They are used for questions.

We use interrogative pronouns to ask questions about a person or a thing.

For example:

1. Who did this?
2. Whom did you meet?
3. What did you buy?
4. Which sweater should I wear? (Which usually means that we have a specific group to choose from. I have three sweaters, and I’m asking which one from this group I should wear.)
5. Whose book is this?

Reflexive pronouns

Compare:

• John saw me in the mirror.
• I saw myself in the mirror.

We use reflexive pronouns when the subject and the object are the same: He saw himself, she sent herself a copy of the document.

There are eight reflexive pronouns:

Sometimes we use “each other”: We helped each other. We can also use "one another", it means the same thing: They love one another. These words are called reciprocal pronouns.

Relative pronouns

We use them in relative clauses:

• Who – people (Lily is the woman who wrote that wonderful book)
• Which – things and animals (The cat which I saw last week was my neighbor’s)
• Whose – for possessions (The policeman whose job it was to arrest him, could only watch)
• Where – place, area, room etc. (I know the place where they first met)
• When – time, day, year etc. (1980 is the year when I went to college)

Sometimes, we say “that” instead of “which”: This is the book that I told you about.

Practice makes perfect! Don’t forget to do these exercises:

1. Subject pronouns: http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/pronouns/personal_pronouns.htm
2. Object pronouns: http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/pronouns/personal_pronouns3.htm
3. Subject or object? http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/pronouns/personal_pronouns5.htm
4. Possessive adj and pronouns: http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/pronouns/possessive_pronouns2.htm
5. Who/which/whose: http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/pronouns/relative_pronouns.htm
6. Reflexive pronouns: http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/pronouns/self_each_other.htm

Good luck!