# What are pronouns, and how do different languages use them?

Here’s how pronouns—small words with big responsibility—work across languages.

Pronouns are little words with big responsibility. They stand in for nouns, can sum up whole phrases, and give more information about the noun itself. In this post, we’ll dig into some pronouns about people and possession and how they might work differently in the language you’re learning!

### In this post:

- [Why do we need pronouns?](https://blog.duolingo.com/what-are-pronouns/#pronouns-avoid-unnecessary-repetition)
- [What do pronouns tell us?](https://blog.duolingo.com/what-are-pronouns/#pronouns-tell-us-different-things-in-different-languages)
- [What do pronouns have to do with (grammatical) gender?](https://blog.duolingo.com/what-are-pronouns/#pronouns-can-indicate-the-gender-of-any-noun-people-included)
- [Have pronouns always been the same?](https://blog.duolingo.com/what-are-pronouns/#pronouns-can-evolve-and-change-over-time)
- [Why do some people have pronouns in their email signature?](https://blog.duolingo.com/what-are-pronouns/#pronouns-may-be-communicated-openly)

## Pronouns avoid unnecessary repetition

Grammatically, [pronouns’ main job](https://blog.duolingo.com/english-personal-pronouns/) is to take the place of something that’s already been said. That way you’re not repeating yourself so much. (The _pro_ in _pronoun_ means “in place of.”)

So if Junior is talking about bubble gum ice cream with sprinkles, the first time he brings it up he might say:

Bubble gum ice cream with sprinkles is my absolute favorite!

And the next time he mentions it, he might just say:

It is so good that I want to eat it for every meal!

That sentence means the same as “Bubble gum ice cream with sprinkles is so good that I want to eat bubble gum ice cream with sprinkles for every meal,” but using the pronoun **_it_** is useful because we already know what he’s referring to. We can replace the whole noun phrase “bubble gum ice cream with sprinkles” with the pronoun.

Pronouns also work with people’s names. Instead of always repeating someone’s whole name, you can refer back to them with a pronoun. You normally won’t hear people say:

Junior loves ice cream, and if Junior had Junior’s way, Junior would eat it for every meal.

Instead, a more natural way to say it is with pronouns:

Junior loves ice cream, and if he had his way, he would eat it for every meal.

## Pronouns tell us different things in different languages

Pronouns include all sorts of information, depending on the language! They help indicate different information about a noun:

### Formality

In many [dialects of Spanish](https://blog.duolingo.com/spanish-dialects/), _tú_ (you) is the pronoun for speaking directly to a person you know well, and _usted_ (you) is the pronoun for speaking to someone you don’t know or should be polite towards.

| English | Spanish |
| --- | --- |
| Is this **you**, Lily? | ¿Eres **tú**, Lily? |
| Is this **you**, Mr. Smith? | ¿Es **usted**, Sr. Smith? |

### How many

In French, _tu_ (you) is the pronoun for talking to one person, and _vous_ (you all) is used for talking to a group of people. (And actually, _vous_ is also the formal pronoun!) [We used to have this in English](https://blog.duolingo.com/history-of-english-language/), too: _Thou_ was for talking to one person, and _you_ was only for talking to groups!

| English | French |
| --- | --- |
| **You**’re funny, Eddy. | **Tu** es drôle, Eddy. |
| **You**’re funny, Eddy and Lily. | **Vous** êtes drôles, Eddy et Lily. |

### Who is included

In some languages, including Hawaiian, Vietnamese, and [Canadian French](https://blog.duolingo.com/french-language-predictions/#%F0%9F%94%AE-prediction-5-this-one%E2%80%99s-for-you-no-the-other-you), there is one pronoun for “we” when you mean you and the person you’re talking to ( _inclusive_), and a different version of “we” when you mean you and someone else who isn’t the person you’re talking to ( _exclusive_).

| English | Hawaiian |
| --- | --- |
| You and I, **we**’re friends. | ʻO ʻoe me aʻu, he hoa **kāua**. |
| Junior and I, **we**’re friends. | ʻO māua ʻo Junior, he hoa **māua**. |

### Traits of people and things

Some languages have different pronouns for men and women, in other languages categories are based on _animacy_ (whether something is human or not), and languages like [Zulu](https://blog.duolingo.com/hardest-languages-to-learn/#zulu) and Swahili have categories for animals, things that are expansive (like lakes and the sky), and many more! They affect the language’s grammar in different ways—like changing the form of an adjective.

| English | Zulu |
| --- | --- |
| It’s a **big** cat. | Ikati **elikhulu**. |
| It’s a **big** door. | Umnyango **omkhulu**. |

### Subject vs. object

Some languages use a different set of pronouns depending on whether the pronoun is the [subject](https://blog.duolingo.com/subject-pronouns-in-english/) or the [object](https://blog.duolingo.com/object-pronouns-in-english/) of the sentence. While English (and many others) differentiate between _I_ as a subject and _me_ as an object, Mandarin Chinese uses the same pronoun in both cases.

| English | Mandarin Chinese |
| --- | --- |
| **I** see **them**. | 我喜欢他们。(**Wǒ** xǐhuān **tāmén**.) |
| **They** see **me**. | 他们喜欢我。(**Tāmén** xǐhuān **wǒ**.) |

### But wait… There’s more?

Sometimes, pronouns indicate [possession](https://blog.duolingo.com/possessive-pronouns-in-english/) or [reflexivity](https://blog.duolingo.com/reflexive-pronouns-in-english/). In Japanese, they may tell you something about gender expression and [the degree of it](https://blog.duolingo.com/how-to-learn-japanese-from-anime/#lesson-1-how-to-use-japanese-pronouns-to-represent-and-play-with-identity). And Spanish has a special pronoun ( _se_) that takes on [many different functions](https://blog.duolingo.com/5-meanings-of-spanish-se/).

## Pronouns can indicate the gender of any noun, people included

Some languages, including many languages from Europe, [categorize nouns by gender](https://blog.duolingo.com/what-is-grammatical-gender/), so there are pronouns for the different gender categories, too—even for nouns that aren’t about people. In a language like Spanish, which divides nouns into masculine and feminine, human men as well as grammatically masculine nouns like _teléfono_ (phone) and _zapato_ (shoe) all get matched with masculine pronouns like _él_ (he) and _este_ (this / this one). On the other hand, grammatically feminine nouns such as _manzana_ (apple) and _mesa_ (table) are matched with feminine pronouns like _la_ (she) and _esta_ (this / this one):

**Masculine pronoun in Spanish**  
| English | Spanish |  
| --- | --- |  
| the phone | **el** teléfono |  
| No, Junior’s phone is over there. This one is mine. | No, **el** teléfono de Junior está allí. **Este** es el mío. |

**Feminine pronoun in Spanish**  
| English | Spanish |  
| --- | --- |  
| the table | **la** mesa |  
| The table over there is red. This one is green. | **La** mesa de allí es roja. **Esta** es verde. |

[German](https://blog.duolingo.com/learning-grammatical-gender-rules/#tips-for-grammatical-gender-in-german) and [Russian](https://blog.duolingo.com/learning-grammatical-gender-rules/#tips-for-grammatical-gender-in-russian-and-ukrainian) have masculine and feminine categories, as well as a [third category called _neuter_](https://blog.duolingo.com/german-gender-der-die-das/):

**Masculine pronoun in German**  
| English | German |  
| --- | --- |  
| the chair | **der** Stuhl |  
| The chair is old. It is beautiful. | **Der** Stuhl ist alt. **Er** ist schön. |

**Feminine pronoun in German**  
| English | German |  
| --- | --- |  
| the bag | **die** Tasche |  
| The bag is red. It is expensive. | **Die** Tasche ist rot. **Sie** ist teuer. |

**Neuter pronoun in German**  
| English | German |  
| --- | --- |  
| the bread | **das** Brot |  
| The bread is tasty. It is fresh. | **Das** Brot ist lecker. **Es** ist frisch. |

(English nouns used to be masculine, feminine, or neuter, too! Here’s a little more about [gendered nouns](https://blog.duolingo.com/learning-grammatical-gender-rules/) and their rules, if you’re interested.)

Sometimes when talking about people, the gender of the person or group of people isn’t known or relevant. The gender you need to express might not be covered by the two categories of men (masculine pronouns) and women (feminine pronouns). Languages have different ways of addressing those situations. English often uses _they_ in these situations, and has been doing so for [hundreds of years](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/21/they-has-been-singular-pronoun-forever-dont-let-anyone-tell-you-its-wrong/?ref=blog.duolingo.com).

- Yesterday I was in line behind this person at Target, and **they** were taking forever! (person’s gender isn’t known or relevant)  
- If someone isn’t feeling well, **they** should stay home. (person’s gender isn’t relevant)  
- My friend was telling me that **their** family is coming to visit next week. (person’s gender is not relevant or not covered by the two categories of men and women)

In languages like Spanish and Italian, pronouns aren’t always necessary, so sometimes choosing either masculine or feminine isn’t an issue at all—you can just leave it out:

| English | Italian |
| --- | --- |
| Do you see Oscar? **He** is very happy. | Vedi Oscar? È molto felice. |
| Do you see Lucy? **She** is very happy. | Vedi Lucy? È molto felice. |

In other cases, where a pronoun is necessary but the person it refers to doesn’t identify as a man or a woman, languages are evolving new pronouns, like Spanish [_elle_](https://blog.duolingo.com/inclusive-language-in-spanish/). This is called a _neopronoun_, or [new pronoun](https://blog.duolingo.com/gender-neutral-language-and-pronouns/), and some English neopronouns are _ze_ and _xe_.

## Pronouns can evolve and change over time

We come up with new nouns and verbs [all the time](https://blog.duolingo.com/why-do-languages-change/)—if you can believe it, there was once a time when “googling” wasn’t a thing, and neither were “podcasts.” Pronouns don’t change as much, but they do come, go, and change!

In fact, the English pronoun _they_ didn’t even come from English: It was borrowed from a Scandinavian language almost a thousand years ago, and the original English pronoun slowly dropped out of use and vanished from the language. English _you_ has also changed a lot over the last millennium; it used to be only for groups of people (like _y’all_) or for formal situations with one person. Today it’s used for talking directly to anyone, no matter how formal or whether it’s one person or a hundred.

## Pronouns may be communicated openly

In recent years, it has become increasingly common in the U.S. for people to include their pronouns in professional contexts, such as email signatures. You might also see pronouns on somebody’s business card or their name tag at a conference. By displaying their pronouns, people indicate how they would like to be referred to.

Pronouns are often added after or below a person’s name, sometimes in parentheses. For example, somebody called Lily who identifies as female may put the following in her email signature:

Lily  
(she/her)

This lets us know that person’s preferred pronouns. If someone hasn’t shared their pronouns or you’re unsure which pronouns they use, you could politely [ask them](https://blog.duolingo.com/gender-neutral-language-and-pronouns/#how-do-you-ask-someone-their-pronouns), or you can use a gender-neutral option like “they/them” in English.

## You’re becoming a pro at understanding pronouns

You can expect to learn something new about pronouns in the language you’re studying! That might mean learning new categories, new formalities, or new genders. What have you noticed about pronouns in your new language?