9 Types of English Pronouns and How to Use Them

You might already know what a noun is, so the next step is to learn about pronouns. A pronoun in English can replace a noun or a noun phrase.

This means a pronoun can refer to a person, animal, object, place, thing or idea already mentioned before.

Learn everything you need to know about English pronouns, divided up into nine different pronoun types, with plenty of examples.

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What Are Pronouns in English?

A pronoun is a word that can substitute a noun or a noun phrase.

Consider these example sentences with nouns and pronouns: 

Sentence with noun	Sentence with pronoun
My mom loves animals.	She loves animals.
Your brother is very impatient.	He is very impatient.
This book is excellent.	It is excellent.

This is just one type of pronoun—the personal one. English has a total of nine different types of pronouns, and each is used for different purposes. 

1. Personal Pronouns

Despite the name, personal pronouns do not only refer to people. They can also substitute for animals and objects. Personal pronouns are probably the type of pronoun that you are most familiar with since they are taught very early on to beginner English learners.

This type of pronoun changes depending on:

• grammatical person (who you are talking about)
• gender (only in the third person singular)
• number (how many)

There are two kinds of personal pronouns, depending on their function in the sentence.

Subject Personal Pronouns

Subject personal pronouns function as subjects of sentences. They substitute the person, animal or object performing the action of the sentence.

The eight subject personal pronouns are:

Pronoun	Person and gender	Refers to	Example
I	first person singular, masculine and feminine	yourself	I love dogs.
you	second person singular, masculine and feminine	a single other person	You aren't tired, are you?
he	third person singular, masculine	one single male	He is a doctor.
she	third person singular, feminine	one single female	She loves running.
it	third person singular, neuter	one single thing	It was left on the street.
we	first person plural, masculine and feminine	a group that includes yourself	We are going to the cinema.
you, you all	second person plural, masculine and feminine	a group outside yourself	You all are hungry, right?
they	third person plural, masculine or feminine	a group that doesn't include present company	They made a reservation at the burger restaurant.

Object Personal Pronouns

Object personal pronouns function as objects of sentences.

Here’s the full list of object personal pronouns:

Pronoun	Person and gender	Refers to	Example
me	first person singular, masculine or feminine	yourself	It sounds good to me.
you	second person singular, masculine or feminine	someone else	I like you.
him	third person singular, masculine	one other male	The car belongs to him.
her	third person singular, feminine	one other female	I like her a lot.
it	third person singular, neuter	one thing	I lost it at the beach.
us	first person plural, masculine or feminine	a group that includes yourself	It's too expensive for us.
you, you all	second person plural, masculine or feminine	a group that doesn't include yourself	I'm coming to dinner with you all.
them	third person plural, masculine or feminine	a group that doesn't include yourself and aren't present	The crime was committed by them.

2. Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are the pronouns that help us talk about possession and ownership (who owns what).

Possessive pronouns also have different forms depending on the grammatical person. They can also change depending on the gender of the noun (in the third person singular), but they do not show number in English:

This is my book. → It is mine.

These are my books. → They are mine.

As with the personal pronouns, we have one possessive pronoun for each grammatical person:

Pronoun	Person and gender	Refers to	Example
mine	first person singular or plural, masculine or feminine	yourself	The dog is mine.
yours	second person singular or plural, masculine or feminine	someone else	Is this ring yours?
his	third person singular or plural, masculine	a single male	That's his car.
hers	third person singular or plural, feminine	a single female	Those cats are hers.
its	third person singular or plural, neuter	a single thing	Its tires are flat.
ours	first person singular or plural, masculine or feminine	a group that includes yourself	The dinner reservations are ours.
yours	second person singular or plural, masculine or feminine	a present group that doesn't include yourself	Is this key yours? [to a couple]
theirs	third person singular or plural, masculine or feminine	a group that doesn't include yourself and isn't present	I don't know where this lemonade came from, I think it's theirs.

3. Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are the pronouns we use to refer and point to specific people, animals and things.

The four main demonstrative pronouns are:

Pronoun	Distance	Number	Example
this	close	singular	This is so exciting.
that	far	singular	That was delicious.
these	close	plural	These fit really well.
those	far	plural	Those aren't the right color.

As you can see, the only two things we have to take into account when using them is the distance (in space or time) from the speaker and the number of the noun they are referring to.

4. Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns are pronouns that refer mainly to non-specific people, animals, things and quantities.

This means they do not refer to specific nouns. Instead, they refer to any noun of the category the speaker is talking about:

Anybody can do it. (Any person can do it.)

I already have enough to build a castle. (I have a non-specific amount of something, perhaps sand, to build a castle.)

The group of indefinite pronouns is the biggest one. The main pronouns included in this group are:

another, other, anybody, anyone, somebody, someone, nobody, no one, everybody, everyone, nothing, anything, something, everything, each, either, neither, one, enough, less, little, much, more, both, few, fewer, several, many, others, all, any, most, least, some, such, none

As you can see, they are super varied and could be grouped into several subcategories, for example, pronouns that:

• only refer to people: anybody, anyone, somebody, someone, nobody, no one, everybody, everyone.
• only refer to things: anything, something, nothing, everything.
• only refer to countable nouns: few, fewer, several, many, others.
• only refer to uncountable nouns: little, less, least.
  

5. Relative Pronouns

Relative pronouns are a small group of pronouns that introduce relative clauses.

They are called “relative” because they refer to the noun described or modified by the relative clause. A basic way to tell if a part of a sentence is a relative clause is to remove it—if the sentence still makes sense without it, then it is a relative clause!

The English relative pronouns are:

Pronoun	Refers to	Example
who/whom	people	The runner who won the race was 35.
which	animals and things	Pasta, which we eat once a week, is my favorite food.
that	people, animals and things	The dress I bought last week is green.
whose	people, animals and things	The boy whose hair is red is winning the race.

6. Interrogative Pronouns

The set of interrogative pronouns looks almost identical to the relative pronouns (except for that becoming what).

This group of pronouns does not describe or give information about a noun.

Instead, interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions about people, animals, things and possessors:

Pronoun	To ask about	Example
who/whom	people	Who is that woman?
which	animals and things	Which shirt do you like best?
what	people, animals and things	What is he doing over there?
whose	people, animals and things (possessive)	Whose cat is this?

7. Reflexive Pronouns

The reflexive pronouns are used when a person, animal or object performs (does) an action on themselves, such as bathing or washing (oneself).

This is another group of pronouns that has a different form for each grammatical person:

Pronoun	Person and gender	Refers to	Example
myself	first person singular, masculine or feminine	yourself	If I want the job done well, I have to do it myself.
yourself	second person singular, masculine or feminine	another single person	Do it yourself!
himself	third person singular, masculine	a single male	He made the lasagna all by himself.
herself	third person singular, feminine	a single female	She got the job done by herself.
itself	third person singular, neuter	a single thing	That fire started by itself.
ourselves	first person plural, masculine or feminine	a group that includes yourself	We're going to have to do this ourselves I'm afraid.
yourselves	second person plural, masculine or feminine	a group that doesn't include yourself	I don't want to clean the house. Do it yourselves.
themselves	third person plural, masculine or feminine	a group that doesn't include yourself and isn't present	They built the house themselves.

Notice how the second person singular and the second person plural are different, which happens very rarely in English.

You might be asking why we need a set of reflexive pronouns to refer to a subject when we can just use the same subject once again. Well, reflexive pronouns help us avoid misunderstandings and sentences that would sound very weird or just be ungrammatical.

8. Reciprocal Pronouns

Reciprocal pronouns are a very special type of English pronoun.

There are only two of them:

Pronoun	Number	Example
each other	two people	They love each other deeply.
one another	more than two people	They all shook hands with one another.

They are used when two or more people perform a reciprocal action: an action that everyone in the situation is either doing or having it done to them.

Try not to confuse reflexive and reciprocal pronouns. Sometimes they make sentences look very similar in meaning to learners, but they only seem similar. The reality is different:

We love ourselves. (I love myself and my friend loves himself, but we do not love each other.)

We love each other. (I love her and she loves me, but I do not necessarily love myself or she herself.)

9. Intensive Pronouns

The intensive pronouns are used to add emphasis or importance to the subject or antecedent of a sentence.

They look identical to the reflexive pronouns, but they are used differently.

While reflexive pronouns refer to a subject performing an action on itself, intensive pronouns refer to a subject that is not doing anything to itself. We just want to emphasize the subject of the sentence:

I did it myself. (I did it on my own, no one helped me.)

She wrote the article herself. Can you believe it? (She wrote the article without any help.)

A quick trick to decide if a pronoun is reflexive or intensive is to try to remove it from the sentence. If this is possible, the pronoun is intensive. If it is not possible, the pronoun is reflexive:

I cut the paper myself. (I cut the paper makes sense, so this is an intensive pronoun.)

I cut myself last week. (I cut last week does not make sense, so this is a reflexive pronoun.)

 

As you can see, English pronouns are as varied as they are necessary.

We may not be aware of this, but we constantly use pronouns when we speak or write in English, so the sooner you learn them, the better. You can see for yourself by picking a random video on YouTube or FluentU to watch, then counting how many pronouns appear on it. If you use FluentU, you can also save the pronouns to a flashcard deck and view other videos where they appear for additional context.

Each set of pronouns has its own characteristics, but remember that all pronouns share two traits: They substitute a noun and they work on their own.

Now that you have finished reading the post, pick a couple of pronouns from each group and try to write some sample sentences with them. Remember that practice makes perfect, and this is especially true when we are dealing with grammar topics.

Let’s see each other in the next post. Or one another, if you bring a friend with you.

Stay curious, my friends and, as always, happy learning!