To make your speech in a foreign language expressive, correct and varied, as well as to learn to understand what other people say (write), you need to know English pronouns. A table (and more than one) will be presented in this article with the necessary explanations to facilitate the assimilation of grammatical material.
What is a pronoun and what is it for
This part of speech is used in any language to avoid tautologies, to liven up dry statements, and also to make them more logical. Pronouns in English are called Pronouns, which translates as “instead of nouns.”
This service component acts as a substitute for those parts of speech that have already been mentioned in spoken or written text. Nouns and adjectives can be replaced, a little less often - adverbs and numerals. Pronouns help us to keep the logic and clarity of the presentation of thought, but at the same time not to repeat ourselves, naming the same people, objects, phenomena, signs, etc.
What are the pronouns in English
There are eight types in tot althese service parts of speech. Next, we will consider each of them separately
English pronouns, like Russian ones, change in person, gender and number. In addition, they must be consistent with the part of speech that they replace. For example, agreement on the basis of gender: girl (girl) - she (she). In the same way, coordination is carried out in the number: boys (boys) - they (they).
Now let's take a closer look at what each variety is and how this service part of speech manages to simplify English.
Personal Pronouns
They have their name because they replace nouns - animate and inanimate. There are seven in total.
- I - I;
- you - you (you);
- he - he;
- she - she;
- it - it;
- we - we;
- they - they.
Please note the following features:
1. You is used in both the singular and the plural. It translates accordingly: “you”, “you” (appeal to one person) or “you” (appeal to a group of people).
2. It denotes not only inanimate objects, but also animals.
The above personal pronouns are given in the nominative case. But what if you need to say: “you”, “me”, “about us”, etc.? What is transmitted in Russian by other cases (dative, genitive, prepositional, etc.), in English is called in one word - the subjective case. Such pronounsreplace words that are not the subject of the sentence. The correspondence table is shown below.
Who? What? |
Whom? What? To whom? What? By whom? How? About whom? About what? |
| I | me - me, me, me, etc. |
| you | you - you (you), you (you), etc. |
| he | him - to him, him, etc. |
| she | her - her, her, etc. |
| it | it - to him, him, etc. |
| we | us - us, us, etc. |
| they | them - them, them, etc. |
Begin to practice using the subjective case when you thoroughly understand and learn the forms of the nominative. Otherwise, you just run the risk of getting confused. In general, remembering pronouns is quite simple, and the more often you study a foreign language, the more confident you will become to speak.
Possessive Pronouns
This group is the second most used. But do not rush to get scared when you see new English pronouns. The table below shows the correspondence between personal and possessive types.
Personal pronoun |
Possessive pronoun |
| I – I | my - my |
| you - you (you) | your - your (your) |
| he - he | his - his |
| she - she | her - her |
| it - it | its - his |
| we – we | our – our |
| they - they | their - their |
As you can see, almost all pronouns have the same stem, and most often the differences are only in one letter.
It is recommended to learn and work out in the exercises first personal pronouns, then possessive ones, and then practice in mixed tests, where you need to choose the option that is suitable in meaning and grammar: you or your, etc. So you will firmly learn everything and never do not confuse these two superficially similar groups.
Demonstrative Pronouns
We continue to study pronouns in English and now we move on to the variety that helps to navigate in space, show a certain object, direction and place. They do not change by person or gender, but they have singular and plural forms. Further in the table you will see demonstrative English pronouns with translation.
Location:close far away |
Singular |
Plural |
| this (this) | these (these) | |
| that | those |
For example, if a picture hangs on the wall in the distance, then they say about it: That is a picture. And if there are pencils nearby on the table, this can be indicated as follows: These are pencils.
This group of service parts of speech has another function. They can replace individual words or even entire expressions. This is done to avoid repetition. For example: Air quality in the village is better than that in the city - Air quality in the village is better than (air quality) in the city.
Relative Pronouns
This variety can often be found in complex sentences to connect the main and subordinate parts. Such an English pronoun with translation and understanding of foreign speech can create difficulties. Therefore, it is necessary to understand this issue well. The following relative pronouns exist:
- that - what, which (used to refer to both animate and inanimate objects);
- which - which (only to refer to objects or phenomena);
- who – who, who (indicates people only);
- whom - to whom, who, whom (not found in colloquial language, used only in official speech as a speech cliché).
Interrogative Pronouns
As you might guess, this type is used in interrogative sentences. if youthe topic “Special Questions” is already familiar, which means that you know these English pronouns well. All of them are notable for the fact that they begin with the letter combination wh:
- what? - what? which? which one?
- which? - which? which (of the two)?
- who? – who?
- whom? - to whom? who?
- whose? – whose?
Sometimes the suffix -ever can be added to them, and then combinations of whatever (any, anything), whoever (any, anyone), etc. are obtained.
Pay special attention to the following features.
Who is used in the singular and assumes the verb form is, as well as the ending -s in the present simple tense.
Who is there? Who likes this film?
The exception is when a plural personal pronoun is used (you, we, they), if the answer involves naming several people, objects, phenomena, etc.
Who are you?
Who of you live in this house? – We do. (Which of you lives in this house? - We.)
Indefinite Pronouns
Situations often arise when the information is not entirely clear, or the speaker is not sure of its veracity. For such cases, there is a special group of service words. Below you can see all indefinite English pronouns with translation.
Animated objects |
Inanimate objects |
| anybody, anyone - anyone, anyone | anything –anything, anything |
| everybody, everyone - everyone, everyone | everything |
| no one, nobody - nobody | nothing - nothing, nothing |
| someone - someone | something - something |
|
other - other either - any (when choosing from two) neither - none (when choosing from two) each - every |
|
Please note that all the pronouns listed in the table are singular (even if translated into Russian they refer to many objects or people).
The plural of indefinite pronouns is represented by the following words:
- any - any;
- both - both;
- several - several;
- others - others, others;
- many - few;
- few - few.
Reflexive Pronouns
Used to refer to actions that are performed on oneself. These English pronouns are related to the varieties you already know - personal and possessive. Only in this case, the particle -self (in the singular) or -selves (in the plural) is added.
- (I) I – myself;
- (you) you - yourself;
- (he) he – himself;
- (she) she – herself;
- (it) it - itself (about animals and inanimate objects);
- (we) we – ourselves;
- (you) you– yourselves;
- (they) they – themselves.
How to translate reflexive pronouns? This is best understood through examples.
Sometimes can be translated as "yourself", "yourself", etc.
"Why?", she asked herself - "Why?" she asked herself.
We arranged a great holiday for ourselves - We arranged a great holiday for ourselves.
In some cases, you can translate such pronouns with reflexive particles -s and -sya.
A cat washed itself - The cat washed itself.
Where are you hiding yourself? – Where are you hiding?
In cases where the fact that the action was performed by someone on their own is emphasized, reflexive pronouns can be translated with the words "himself", "herself", etc.
He has built this house himself - He built this house himself.
Reciprocal Pronouns
This variety includes only two representatives: each other and one another. They are synonyms.
Such pronouns are used in cases where two objects perform the same action directed at each other.
We love each other - We love each other.
They hugged and kissed one another – They hugged and kissed.
On Christmas day the friends gave each other presents - At Christmas, friends gave each other gifts.
In cases where it is necessary to designate a group of people performing the same action in relation to each other, it is necessary to use the form one another. For example:
We are a united family and always help one another. – We are a friendly family and always help each other.
People of different generations have difficulties in understanding one another
This is what the pronoun system looks like in English. There is nothing complicated in it, since some groups of functional words are formed from others: reflexive and possessive - from personal, mutual - from indefinite, etc.
After learning and understanding the theory, start practicing different types of exercises. The more often you do this, the sooner you will achieve a noticeable result: you will start using English pronouns in your speech without hesitation.
