Pronouns are words we use in the place of a full noun.

We have both subject and object pronouns:

 

Subject Object
I me
you you
he him
she her
it it
we us
you you
they them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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?
Talk to a friend. Ask them to help you.
You could go to a doctor. They might help you.

Subject pronouns

We use subject pronouns as subject of the 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.

 

Warning

Remember: English clauses always have a subject:

His father has just retired. Was a teacher. > He was a teacher.
I’m waiting for my wife. Is late.  > She is late.

If there is no other subject we use it or there. We call this a dummy subject.

 

 Object pronouns

 We use object pronouns:

• as the object of the 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.

• 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. 

Exercise

Comments

Peter M's picture Peter M replied on Poland

Hello laxmi89,

The problem here is not an issue of subject and object pronouns (you have chosen, correctly, a subject pronoun), but rather that 'she' is a third-person form and so needs to have the auxiliary for 'doesn't' rather than 'don't'. With the auxiliary 'don't' we can use 'I', 'you', 'we' or 'they'.

I hope that clarifies it for you.

Best wishes,

Peter
The LearnEnglish Team

Anyutka's picture Anyutka replied on Ukraine

Hi
Thank you for useful information, especially information abou using they/them. I haven't known it before.

copley's picture copley replied on Turkey

I understood everything

ervipingupta's picture ervipingupta replied on India

In the last sentence ,
Where is Joanne. Have you see ____today?
I filled "them"as i dont know whether Joanne is male/female. It is showing "Her" in the answers.
Can anyone tell me why?

Peter M's picture Peter M replied on Poland

Hello ervipingupta,

You are correct that we use 'them' (they/their/theirs) when we do not know the gender of the person that we are talking about. 'Joanne' is always a female name in English, however, which is why 'her' is expected in the answer.

Best wishes,

Peter
The LearnEnglish Team

nvpmahendra's picture nvpmahendra replied on India

wonderful site

apoline's picture apoline replied on India

could you please solve my doubt?
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?
In these two sentences, you have highlighted only 'him' and 'her' as pronouns. The words 'he' and 'she' are also pronouns. isn't it?
thanks - apoline

Hocem1996's picture Hocem1996 replied on Algeria

Hi apoline,

I think in those sentences "him" and "her" are the objects, no subjects.

thanks

Peter M's picture Peter M replied on Poland

Hello apoline,
You are correct that those are also pronouns.  In the examples only certain pronouns are highlighted because we want to show which ones are good examples of the rule above.  If we highlighted all of the pronouns I think the examples would be less clear.
I hope that clarifies it for you.
Best wishes,
 
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team

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