Level: beginner
We have both subject pronouns and object pronouns:
| Subject | Object |
|---|---|
| I | me |
| you | you |
| he | him |
| she | her |
| it | it |
| we | us |
| you | you |
| they | them |
We use subject pronouns as the subject of a verb:
I like your dress.
You are late.
He is my friend.
It is raining.
She is on holiday.
We live in England.
They come from London.
| Be careful! |
|---|
|
English clauses always have a subject.
The imperative, which is used for orders, invitations and requests, is an exception:
If there is no other subject, we use it or there. We call this a dummy subject. |
We use object pronouns as the object of a verb:
Can you help me, please?
I can see you.
She doesn't like him.
I saw her in town today.
We saw them in town yesterday, but they didn't see us.
and after prepositions:
She is waiting for me.
I'll get it for you.
Give it to him.
Why are you looking at her?
Don't take it from us.
I'll speak to them.
- Subject and object pronouns 1
- Subject and object pronouns 2
he, she and they
We use he/him to refer to men, and she/her to refer to women. When we are not sure if we are talking about a man or a woman, we use they/them:
This is Jack. He's my brother. I don't think you have met him.
This is Angela. She's my sister. Have you met her before?
You could go to a doctor. They might help you.
Talk to a friend. Ask them to help you.
- he, she and they 1
- he, she and they 2
you and they
We use you to talk about people in general, including the speaker and the hearer:
You can buy this book everywhere. = This book is on sale everywhere.
You can't park here. = Parking is not allowed here.
We use they/them to talk about institutions and organisations:
They serve good food here. (they = the restaurant)
Ask them for a cheaper ticket. (them = the airline)
especially the government and the authorities:
They don't let you smoke in here.
They are going to increase taxes.
They are building a new motorway.
They say it’s going to rain tomorrow.
- you and they 1
- you and they 2
it
We use it to talk about ourselves:
- on the telephone:
Hello. It's George.
- when other people cannot see us:
It's me. It's Mary. (Mary is knocking on the door.)
We also use it to talk about other people:
- when we point people out for the first time:
Look. It's Paul McCartney.
Who's that? I think it's John's brother.
- when we cannot see someone and we ask them for their name:
Hello. Who is it? (someone answering the phone)
Who is it? (someone about to answer the door)
Comments
I like that :)
Thanks for this website
Can you please clear my doubt.In the fourth last sentence,
Have you talked to a lawyer?___________ can tell you your rights.
I am filling he but it is telling that correct answer is they.But lawyer is a masculine,then why it is telling they we don't know about their no. so we must insert he/she.Why they.
Hello prakhar2499,
In English, very few nouns have a specific gender. There are some, such as 'actor' and 'actress', or 'bull' and 'cow', but 'lawyer' is not one of these; 'lawyer' can refer to a man or a woman.
In the sentence you provide the lawyer is not identified. The sentence has an indefinite article ('a lawyer'), meaning that we are talking about any lawyer, not a particular one (in which case it would be 'the lawyer'). Therefore we cannot know if the lawyer is a man or a woman - both are possible. That is why we use 'they' here.
I hope that clarifies it for you.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
really helpful and clear examples
i enjoyed the lesson
Wonderful and very helpful site
Wonderful and very helpfull site
Please help me when we use (didn't ) ? Thank for your kindly replie.
Hello Seng Poline,
'Didn't' is the contracted form of 'did not', and is used to form negatives in the past simple:
I went there yesterday.
I didn't go there yesterday.
I worked in Spain in the summer.
I didn't work in Spain in the summer.
I hope that helps to clarify it for you. You can find more about past simple forms (including questions and negatives) here:
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/verbs/past-tense/past-simple
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
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