Which form to use
| Form | Job | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | does the action | She called me. |
| Object | receives the action, or follows a preposition | I called her. I went with her. |
| Possessive | before a noun, shows who owns it | This is her phone. |
| Possessive pronoun | replaces the noun | The phone is hers. |
| Reflexive | the same person as the subject, or for emphasis | She hurt herself. She made it herself. |
English always needs a subject
In many languages the verb shows who is acting, so the pronoun can be left out. English verbs do not, so a sentence needs its subject pronoun: "I am tired", not "Am tired". The only common exceptions are commands ("Sit down") and very casual speech ("Sounds good").
English even adds it when there is no real subject: "It’s raining", "It’s 5 o’clock", "It’s far from here".
He, she, and it
He and she are for people, and often for pets. Everything else is it: a table, a country, an idea, a company. English nouns have no grammatical gender, so a car or a house is always "it".
One "you" for everyone
English has no formal or informal "you". The same word works for a friend, a stranger, your boss, one person, or a whole room: "Do you want coffee?" English shows politeness with other words instead: please, could, would, and titles like Mr. and Ms.
To make it clear you mean several people, Americans add a word: you guys (common and casual, for any group), you all, or y’all in the South.
Singular they
They is also used for one person when you don’t know or don’t need to say their gender: "Someone left their umbrella. I hope they come back for it." This has been normal English for centuries.
Some people also use they as their own pronoun. The verb stays plural: "Alex is here. They are in the kitchen."
Its or it’s? Your or you’re?
Possessive forms never have an apostrophe. The words with an apostrophe are short forms of a verb:
- its = belonging to it: "The dog wagged its tail." it’s = it is: "It’s late."
- your = belonging to you. you’re = you are.
- their = belonging to them. they’re = they are. there = in that place.
- whose = belonging to whom. who’s = who is.
Common mistakes
- "Me and him went". Use subject forms as the subject: "He and I went."
- "between you and I". After a preposition, use object forms: "between you and me".
- "This is mine book". Before a noun use my: "my book", but "The book is mine".
- Mixing he and she. In speech, check that he is used for men and she for women; many languages use one word for both.
- "theirselves", "hisself". The correct forms are themselves and himself.