Not only will I provide an easy-to-understand definition of what a pronoun is, but I will walk you through the 10 different types of pronouns. This includes personal, possessive, and intensive pronouns, and many more!
Last but not least, I’ll also provide you with a list of pronouns, including over 75 examples and how to use them in a sentence. Before you know it, you’ll know pronouns like the back of your hand.
Pronouns Explained
What Is a Pronoun?
Pronouns play an important role in language. We use them to replace nouns and proper nouns, making speech and writing more efficient and less repetitive.
Pronouns stand in for other nouns when the reader or listener already knows who, what, or where you are referring to. For example, you could say, “Deborah packed her lunch this morning. When Deborah got to work, Deborah ate Deborah’s lunch with Deborah’s coworkers.”
But that sentence sounds silly! Since we already know we’re talking about Deborah and her lunch, we can replace some nouns with pronouns. The sentence becomes, “Deborah packed her lunch this morning. When she got to work, she ate it with her coworkers.”
We use pronouns every day. In fact, we use them in most sentences. They work the same as nouns, as the subject or object of a sentence, usually followed or preceded by a verb.
Types of Pronouns
There are many types of pronouns, all with different roles. I’ll talk you through the 10 types of pronouns, what they mean, the most commonly used examples, and how to use them in a sentence. These include:
- Personal (subject or object) pronouns
- Possessive pronouns
- Reflexive pronouns
- Intensive pronouns
- Indefinite pronouns
- Demonstrative pronouns
- Interrogative pronouns
- Relative pronouns
- Archaic pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns are used to refer to people, animals, or objects. It’s the most common type of pronoun, and we often use it during speech or storytelling.
The form of a personal pronoun changes depending on first, second, or third-person writing, the number of people or objects, and gender. These words include I, you, they, us, and it. It also includes the word one, used when referring to an unspecified individual.
Within personal pronouns, there are both subject and object pronouns. Let’s take a closer look at them.
Subject Pronouns
Subject pronouns replace the subject noun in the sentence. This is the person, place, or thing performing the action — it usually appears at the beginning of a sentence.
For instance, in the sentence, “They are going to the movies,” they is the subject pronoun because they are performing the action going.
Commonly Used Personal Subject Pronouns
- He
- I
- It
- One
- She
- They
- We
- You
How To Use Subject Pronouns in a Sentence
Use subject pronouns when it’s already clear who or what the sentence’s subject is. Make sure that the pronoun matches the person’s gender and the number of people or things. For instance, when speaking in the first-person singular, you would use I.
Here are five personal subject pronoun examples in sentences:
- Kevin loves Christmas time. He can’t wait for Santa to arrive
- Amanda and Jake invited meto the movies. We are going to see The Little Mermaid
- The fish in the tank are hungry. They need some food
- Did you know that Greggot an A+ on the exam?
- Have you seen my keys anywhere? I can’t find them
Object Pronouns
On the other hand, object pronouns replace the object noun in the sentence, which is the noun to which the action is happening. In the above sentence, “They are going to the movies,” movies is the object noun. If we replaced it with a pronoun, we would say, “They are going there.”
Commonly Used Personal Object Pronouns
- Her
- Him
- It
- Me
- One
- Them
- Us
- Whom
- You
How To Use Object Pronouns in a Sentence
Similar to subject pronouns, you use an object pronoun when it’s already clear what the object is. The pronoun must match the person’s gender, the number of people or things.
Here are five examples of personal object pronouns in sentences:
- Timmy always goes with us to the bar on a Saturday night
- Has Lisa told them about the good news?
- I needed Bernie to pick me up from the train station
- “Where’s Paul? I thought Molly was coming with him,” Christine said
- The hotel is down the road. You can’t miss it!
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns do exactly as they say on the tin: they indicate possession or ownership. Specifically, they identify the relationship between an owner and the object.
For example, you could say, “That sweater is Sarah’s, but this red one is mine.” In this sentence, mine suggests that the speaker owns the red sweater. It replaces the proper noun, making speech more fluent.
Possessive pronouns can also indicate relationships. In the sentence, “Harriet brought her kids to a new playgroup. The other mom asked Harriet, “So which one’s yours?” Of course, we don’t own our children, so in this case, the possessive pronoun yours indicates a relationship.
Commonly Used Possessive Pronouns
- Hers
- His
- Its
- Mine
- Ours
- Theirs
- Yours
How To Use Possessive Pronouns in a Sentence
Possessive pronouns usually replace proper nouns (people’s names or places). For example, in the sentence, “That sweater is Sarah’s, but this red one is mine,” the speaker uses mine instead of their own name. That would sound weird.
Possessive pronouns are a modification of their personal pronouns, too. Her becomes hers, and their becomes theirs. Instead of saying, “It belongs to her,” you can just say, “It’s hers.”
Here are five examples of possessive pronouns in a sentence.
- I found a $10 bill outside my grandparent’s house. I think it might be theirs
- I got this jacket because its lining is really soft
- Eleanor brought her neighbor a cake. “It’s yours if you like lemon!” she said
- Wilfred stays on Smith Street, but I don’t know which house is hers.
- I can’t believe my sister would steal my makeup. It’s mine!
Reflexive Pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are words ending in -self or -selves, such as herself or themselves. In a sentence, they explain that the subject is performing the verb towards itself. Typically, we use reflexive pronouns when the subject and object refer to the same thing.
For example, you wouldn’t say, “You guys talk amongst you guys for a minute.” It would be more appropriate to say, “You guys talk amongst yourselves for a minute.”
Commonly Used Reflexive Pronouns
- Herself
- Himself
- Itself
- Myself
- Oneself
- Ourselves
- Themself
- Themselves
- Yourself
- Yourselves
How To Use Reflexive Pronouns in a Sentence
Use reflexive pronouns when you want to refer back to the subject of the sentence. For instance, you might want to emphasize that the subject is performing the verb towards or for themselves. Let’s look at five examples:
- One must be careful when using scissors, as it’s easy to injure oneself
- Jeremiah took himself to the movies
- “It’s fine. I’ll do it myself,” I snarled
- “You guys enjoy yourselves at the party. Sorry I can’t make it,” said Tori
- Henry, Louisa, and I did the project ourselves. Erica and David did nothing
Intensive Pronouns
Intensive pronouns are the same words as reflexive pronouns, but they are used differently. Instead, they intensify a sentence, emphasizing the noun or pronoun it’s referring to. Usually, it implies that something is special or unexpected.
For instance, the sentence, “I myself have never been camping,” uses the intensive pronoun myself to emphasize the surprising fact that the speaker has never been camping.
You should also note that sentences make complete sense if you remove the intensive pronoun altogether. But with them there, they definitely emphasize the subject since it’s reinstated.
Commonly Used Intensive Pronouns
- Herself
- Himself
- Itself
- Myself
- Oneself
- Ourselves
- Themself
- Themselves
- Yourself
- Yourselves
How To Use Intensive Pronouns in a Sentence
If the sentence makes sense without an intensive pronoun, but the intensive pronoun adds emphasis, then you are using it correctly. The intensive pronoun usually follows the sentence’s subject or clause to add emphasis.
However, it sometimes appears at the end of the sentence to refer back to the subject or object. Either way, the intensive pronoun must match the subject’s gender, whether plural or singular.
Here are five examples of intensive pronouns working in a sentence:
- I myself have quite a lot of money saved up
- The manager themself announced the store was shutting down
- “Shona and Simon, if your room is a mess, you can clean it up yourselves.”
- The policeman himself came to the funeral
- If I recall correctly, you yourself cooked the dinner that gave us all food poisoning!
Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns refer to something or someone generally, without stating specifically whom or what. These pronouns are vague but still an important and common part of speech.
If you want to refer to people, a person, or a thing(s), without stating exactly who or what the recipient is, you will use an indefinite pronoun. For example, you might say, “Everybody at the festival was dancing,” or “Few donated to the charity, despite many coming to the event.”
Commonly Used Indefinite Pronouns
- All
- Another
- Any
- Anybody
- Anyone
- Anything
- Both
- Each
- Either
- Everybody
- Everyone
- Everything
- Few
- Many
- Most
- Nobody
- None
- No one
- Nothing
- One
- Other(s)
- Several
- Some
- Somebody
- Someone
- Something
How To Use Indefinite Pronouns in a Sentence
When using an indefinite pronoun in a sentence, you modify the word depending on if you’re referring to a person, place, or thing. For instance, everyone and nobody refers to unidentified people. Everywhere or nowhere referred to unspecified places. Everything and something refer to unspecified things.
Most indefinite pronouns precede a singular verb, even when they refer to multiple people, places or things. For example, “Everybody was hungover after the party.” Although everybody refers to more than one person, we use the singular verb was.
However, there are exceptions. For example, both, many, and several precede a plural verb. This would look like this: “Both are going to the game tonight.”
Here are five more examples of how to use indefinite pronouns.
- Amber didn’t know anybody at the party
- Out of all the books I’ve read, most were thrillers
- When he knocked on the door, nobody answered
- She looked at the gifts on the table. “Are any for me?”
- Everybody forgot about me after I left the company
Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns are words that point to a specific thing but replace a specific noun. For example, you might pick up a pair of socks and say, “These are mine,” instead of saying, “The pink socks are mine”.
Within the world of demonstrative pronouns, certain words can denote something close by or far away. If you are holding a pair of socks, you would use the word these. But if you see the pair of socks on the other side of the room, you would say those.
Commonly Used Demonstrative Pronouns
- Neither
- None
- Such
- That
- These
- This
- Those
How To Use Demonstrative Pronouns in a Sentence
We use demonstrative pronouns when the listener or reader already knows what the person, place, or thing is. You can either mention the noun beforehand or show it on the page, screen, or stage. In many instances, a person will simply point to the object.
You would modify the demonstrative pronoun you use depending on how many items there are and how far away it is. For instance, if something is near and there is only one of them, you would use this. But if something is far and there are multiple, you would say those.
- Joseph took a sip of his coffee and said, “This is exactly what I needed.”
- “That’s going to break,” the mother told her toddler, who was playing with a phone
- Felicity bought these from the nearby pharmacy. They will help with her headache
- I bought new shoes, so I can get rid of those now
- Neither had seen shooting stars before
Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are used to seek an answer. Usually, they are used to formulate a question, such as “Who is calling you?”
But we can also use them in the middle or the end of a sentence: “I wonder which outfit Beyonce will wear to the concert.”
Interrogative pronouns, like other pronouns, replace nouns but are used when the speaker doesn’t know the identity of the noun they are referring to. Therefore, they are asking a question using an interrogative pronoun.
Commonly Used Interrogative Pronouns
- What
- Whatever
- Which
- Whichever
- Who
- Whoever
- Whom
- Whomever
- Whose
How To Use Interrogative Pronouns in a Sentence
Use interrogative pronouns when you don’t know what the noun is you are looking for. For example, if you came home to find all the dishes cleaned and put away, you might wonder which family member did this kind of chore for you. Since you don’t know whether it was Liam or Owen, you might ask, “Who did the dishes?”
Here are five examples of how to use interrogative pronouns.
- I’m excited to see whoever is headlining the festival
- Whose bike is the blue one?
- Bobby will hire whomever I recommend for the role
- Whatever is the meaning of this?
- Which road is safest?
Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns introduce a relative clause. In a sentence, a relative clause is used to give more information about the sentence’s subject.
For instance, in the sentence, “The girl next door who only moved in last week is called Jessica,” ‘who only moved in last week’ is the relative clause. The word who introduces that clause, making it the relative pronoun.
However, there are also other types of relative pronouns. For instance, the word what works differently since it doesn’t follow the preceding noun phrase. Instead, it introduces its own clause, which is called a free relative clause or fused relative clause.
You might say, “What Raymond did was atrocious.” Notice how it doesn’t introduce a relative clause. If it did, it would sound like, “The thing what Raymond did was atrocious,” which doesn’t make sense.
Commonly Used Relative Pronouns
- As
- That
- What
- Whatever
- When
- Which
- Whichever
- Who
- Whoever
- Whom
- Whomever
- Whose
How To Use Relative Pronouns in a Sentence
Typically, you will use relative pronouns after the antecedent of a sentence but before the relative clause. You can often remove the relative pronoun altogether, and the sentence still makes sense. For instance, “The key that I used in the door snapped.” If you took the word that out, it would still make sense.
However, this method only applies to main relative pronouns such as that, which, who, and whom.. There are a few other types of relative pronouns, including those ending in -ever.
These are called compound relative pronouns and suggest the speaker doesn’t know the identity of what or who they’re referring to. Instead, they make a general statement, such as, “Whatever happens, we’re in it together.”
Here are five examples of relative pronouns in action.
- Caleb, whom I’ve not met yet, is arriving soon
- I’ll take whatever you’re offering
- My university course, which is extremely difficult, is taught by a famous novelist
- The shoes that I put at the front door are clean
- The baby whose blanket we found is very cute
Archaic Pronouns
Archaic pronouns aren’t commonly used anymore. Instead, you’ll find them in older texts, such as the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, or other classical texts. However, they’re important to understand since you might still come across them.
They include words like thee (meaning you) or thy (meaning your). In a sentence, this will read like this: “Thou shalt not kill,” which translates to, “You shouldn’t kill.”
Commonly Used Archaic Pronouns
- Thee (you – singular)
- Thine (yours)
- Thou (you – singular)
- Thy (your)
- Thyself (yourself – singular)
- Ye (you – plural)
How To Use Archaic Pronouns in a Sentence
As mentioned, archaic pronouns are not commonly used in modern English. However, when you do use them, it’s important to do so correctly. For example, thee means you, and thy means your. Here are some examples:
- Thou illuminate the room by thy rays
- Ye should cheer up before dinner!
- If thee takes thy cup, we can proceed
- Be lifted by thine presence
- Don’t ask much of thyself
Alphabetical List of All Pronouns
Here is a complete pronoun list in English arranged alphabetically.
- All
- Another
- Any
- Anybody
- Anyone
- Anything
- As
- Both
- Each
- Either
- Everybody
- Everyone
- Everything
- Few
- He
- Her
- Hers
- Herself
- Him
- Himself
- His
- I
- It
- Itself
- Many
- Me
- Mine
- Most
- Myself
- Neither
- Nobody
- None
- No one
- Nothing
- One
- Oneself
- Other(s)
- Ours
- Ourselves
- Several
- She
- Some
- Somebody
- Someone
- Something
- Such
- That
- Thee
- Theirs
- Them
- Themself
- Themselves
- These
- They
- Thine
- This
- Those
- Thou
- Thy
- Thyself
- Us
- We
- What
- Whatever
- When
- Which
- Whichever
- Who
- Whom
- Whomever
- Whose
- Ye
- You
- Yours
- Yourself
- Yourselves
FAQs About Pronouns
What Are Gender Pronouns?
Gender pronouns are a type of personal pronouns that reflect a person’s gender identity. Typically, people who identify as male use he/him/his; people who identify as female use she/her/hers; and non-binary or gender-neutral people use they/them/theirs. Some people might prefer a mix.
In some cases, people who identify as non-binary or non-gendered might prefer ze (pronounced “zee”) in place of she/he/they and hir (pronounced “here”) in place of his/her/theirs.
Many people disclose their pronouns when you meet them or in their bios online. You can also ask people their pronouns to better understand their gender identity.
Respecting people’s gender pronouns is extremely helpful for non-binary and trans people. When you use their preferred pronouns, you respect and include them, which shows you value and accept their gender identity.
Is When a Pronoun?
When is typically an adverb, but it can be used as a pronoun, specifically a relative pronoun. It usually introduces a relative clause. Here is an example: The time when I was sick was the worst.
What Are All the First Person Pronouns?
The first-person pronouns are:
- I (singular)
- Me (singular)
- Mine (singular)
- My (singular)
- Myself (singular)
- Our (plural)
- Ourselves (plural)
- Us (plural)
- We (plural)
What Are the Three Types of Personal Pronouns?
The three types of personal pronouns are subject pronouns (also called nominative, for example, he, she, we), object pronouns (also called objective, for example, him, her, us), and possessive pronouns (for example, his, hers, our).
What Are Pronouns for LGBTQ+?
The LGBTQ+ community includes people that are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, non-binary, queer, and many more labels. Within that community, there are cis-gender folks, transgender folks, non-binary folks, and more. Therefore, there is no specific pronoun for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Instead, different people use different pronouns depending on their gender identity. Male (whether trans or cis) people might use he/his/him. Female (whether trans or cis) people might use she/hers/her. Non-binary or gender-neutral folk might use they/them/theirs or ze/hir.
Some LGBTQ+ folks might prefer using a mixture of pronouns, depending on their gender identity. When in doubt, ask a person for their pronouns.
How Many Pronouns Are There?
In my research, I have found 76 different pronouns. This includes personal pronouns — like he, she, we — reflexive pronouns — like myself and yourself — indefinite pronouns — like many, nothing and someone — and more.
However, the number of pronouns can vary based on different styles and dialects of English, and some pronouns are more accepted in certain communities or areas than others.
