Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns represent specific people or things. We use them depending on:

• number: singular (e.g: I ) or plural (e.g: we)
• person: 1st person (e.g: I ), 2nd person (e.g: you ) or 3rd person (e.g: he)
• gender: male (e.g: he ), female (e.g: she ) or neuter (e.g: it)
• case: subject (e.g: we ) or object (e.g: us)

We use personal pronouns in place of the person or people that we are talking about. My name is Josef but when I am talking about myself I almost always use "I" or "me", not "Josef". When I am talking direct to you, I almost always use "you", not your name. When I am talking about another person, say John, I may start with "John" but then use "he" or "him". And so on.

Here are the personal pronouns, followed by some example sentences:

Examples (in each pair, the first sentence shows a subject pronoun, the second an object pronoun):

• I  like coffee. / John helped me.
• Do you  like coffee? / John loves you.
• He  runs fast. / Did Ram beat him?
• She  is clever. / Does Mary know her?
• It  doesn't work. / Can the man fix it?
• We  went home. / Anthony drove us.
• Do you  need a table for three? / Did John and Mary beat you  at doubles?
• They  played doubles. / John and Mary beat them.

When we are talking about a single thing, we almost always use it . However, there are a few exceptions. We may sometimes refer to an animal as he/him or she/her , especially if the animal is domesticated or a pet. Ships (and some other vessels or vehicles) as well as some countries are often treated as female and referred to as she/her . Here are some examples:

• This is our dog Rusty. He 's an Alsatian.
• The Titanic  was a great ship but she  sank on her first voyage.
• My first car was a Mini and I treated her  like my wife.
• Thailand has now opened her  border with Cambodia.

For a single person, sometimes we don't know whether to use he or she . There are several solutions to this:

• If a teacher needs help, he or she should see the principal.
• If a teacher needs help, he  should see the principal.
• If a teacher needs help, they  should see the principal.

We often use it  to introduce a remark:

• It  is nice to have a holiday sometimes.
• It  is important to dress well.
• It 's difficult to find a job.
• Is it  normal to see them together?
• It  didn't take long to walk here.

We also often use it  to talk about the weather, temperature, time and distance:

• It 's raining.
• It  will probably be hot tomorrow.
• Is  it nine o'clock yet?
• It 's 50 kilometres from here to Cambridge.

sources : Original Link