Chapter 7: Personal Pronouns (2024)

Now that we've reviewed basic grammatical concepts we can finally move on to translating actual Old English sentences.

We'll begin with personal pronouns. Since we can find many simple sentences that use them, and since they are so common, it makes sense to memorize them right away.

In Modern English the personal pronouns include: "I," "you," "he," "she," "it," "we," "they," "them," "us," "him," "her," "his," "hers," "its," "theirs," "our," "your."

Personal pronouns are used in statements and commands, but not in questions; interrogative pronouns (like "who," "whom," "what") are used there.

There are three persons for pronouns in Old English (first person = speaker; second person = person being addressed; third person = third party being spoken about). The third person has masculine, neuter, and feminine forms.

Like Modern English, Old English has both singular and plural forms for the personal pronouns. But Old English also has a dual form, used to indicate two closely associated persons -- two people working or fighting together, husband and wife, or lovers.

Remember that the case of a pronoun indicates how it functions in a sentence. Nominatives are subjects, genitives are possessive modifiers, accusatives are direct objects, and datives are objects of prepositions and indirect objects.

Paradigms: A paradigm is simply a list of all the possible grammatical forms of a word. It is usually arranged in a table, so that you can easily look up the forms that you need to translate. It is essential that you memorize your Old English paradigms so that you do not have to spend extra time flipping through your grammar book but can instead focus on translating.


Study tip: You can either memorize the paradigm visually, by creating a blank paradigm and filling in the boxes with the words you've memorized (this is the method that most students use for Old English), or, if you are a more aural learner, you can recite the paradigm so that you can memorize it. The most successful students often combine both of these methods. You can click here for blank paradigms that can be printed out.

First Person Personal Pronouns Paradigm

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative ic = I wit = we two we = we
Genitive min = mine uncer = of us two (of ours) user or ure = of us (our)
Accusative me or mec = me (direct object) uncor uncit = us two (direct object) us or usic = us (direct object)

Dative /

Instrumental

me = with me (or indirect object) unc = with us two (or indirect object) us = with us (or indirect object)

Second Person Personal Pronouns Paradigm

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative þu = you (singular) git = you two ge = you (plural = "y'all" or "younz")
Genitive þin = your (singular) incer = of your two (yours) eower = your (plural = "y'all's" or "younz's")
Accusative þe or þec = you (direct object) inc or incit = you two (direct object) eow or eowic = you (direct object)
Dative or Instrumental þe = with you (or indirect object) inc = with you two (or indirect object) eow = with you (or indirect object)

Third Person Personal Pronouns Paradigm

Case Masculine Neuter Feminine All Genders Plural
Nominative he = he hit = it heo or hie = she hi or hie = they
Genitive his = his his = its hire = hers hira = theirs
Accusative hine = him (direct object) hit = it (direct object) heo or hie = her (direct object) hi or hie = them (direct object)
Dative or Instrumental him = with him ( or indirect object) him = with it (or indirect object) hire = with her (indirect object) him or heom = with them (or indirect object)

Note:The genitive pronouns can be used adjectivally (i.e., as possessive adjectives), in which case they are declined the same way an adjective is.

Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative Pronouns are question words: "who" and "what".

Who was the most important king of the West Saxons in the ninth century?

"Who" is an interrogative pronoun standing in for "he" (which would be used if the sentence were a statement) which would stand in for the answer to the question, "Alfred".

Note: Interrogative Pronouns have five (rather than four) case forms. The Instrumental case is here different from the Dative.

There are masculine and neuter forms. Masculine interrogative pronouns are used for both masculine and feminine nouns.

Interrogative Pronouns Paradigm

Case Masculine Neuter
Nominative hwa = who hwæt = what
Genitive hwæs = of who hwæs = of what (whose)
Accusative hwone = whom (direct object) hwæt = what (direct object)
Dative hwæm or hwam = with whom (indirect object) hwæm or hwam = with whom (indirect object)
Instrumental hwi or hwon = by means of whom hwi or hwon = by mean of what

Chapter 7 Vocabulary Words

Chapter 7 Translation Practice

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Chapter 7: Personal Pronouns (2024)

FAQs

What are the personal pronouns for Grade 7? ›

Types of Pronouns - Personal Pronouns Personal pronouns can be the subject of a sentence. They are: I, he, she, it, they, we and you. Example: They went to the mall. Personal pronouns can also be objective, where they are the object of the verb or preposition.

What are the 23 personal pronouns list? ›

Personal pronouns:
  • Subject pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they)
  • Object pronouns (me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them)
  • Possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs)
Mar 6, 2023

What are 20 personal pronouns? ›

In Modern English the personal pronouns include: "I," "you," "he," "she," "it," "we," "they," "them," "us," "him," "her," "his," "hers," "its," "theirs," "our," "your."

What are the 10 examples of personal pronouns in a sentence? ›

I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, and them are all personal pronouns.

What is pronoun 9th grade? ›

A pronoun is a term that substitutes something that functions as a noun. There are a few different pronoun forms, and more than one group belongs to certain pronouns. She and her are known as personal pronouns. Other examples of personal pronouns - I and me, you, he and him, it, we and us, and they and them.

What are pronouns for kids? ›

A pronoun is a type of word that replaces a noun, such as 'she,' 'he,' 'you,' 'them,' and 'this. ' We can only use pronouns to replace nouns when we have already referred to the noun at an earlier point.

Is me a pronoun yes or no? ›

Both I and me are pronouns. But there's a clear difference between the two: I is what is known as a subject pronoun, and me is an object pronoun.

Is we a pronoun yes or no? ›

Is “we” first-person? Yes, the personal pronoun we and the related pronouns us, ours, and ourselves are all first-person. These are the first-person plural pronouns (and our is the first-person plural possessive determiner).

Is my a pronoun yes or no? ›

My is usually classed as a possessive determiner (or possessive adjective): a word that indicates possession (telling you whom or what something or someone belongs to) by modifying the following noun (e.g., “my cat”). It's normally not considered a pronoun because it doesn't stand alone in place of a noun.

What are 50 examples of pronouns? ›

Top 60 Pronouns
your1067(pronoun)
herself3(pronoun)
whoever1(pronoun)
you2041(pronoun, noun)
that1743(pronoun, adjective, adverb)
54 more rows

What is 8 pronouns? ›

The personal pronouns are: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, them.

What is the 15 example for pronoun? ›

Some examples of personal pronouns are I, you, he, she, we, they, him, her, he, she, us and them. Subject Pronouns are pronouns that perform the action in a sentence. Some examples of subject pronouns are I, you, we, he, she, it, they and one. Object Pronouns are pronouns that receive the action in a sentence.

What is I, we, you, they? ›

Personal pronouns are words we use instead of nouns to refer to (talk about) people, animals, places, and things. Subject pronouns are personal pronouns that are used as the subject of a verb. In this lesson, you will learn how to use the subject pronouns I, we, you, she, he, they, and it.

What are the 12 singular pronouns? ›

There are 12 singular personal pronouns that can be used to represent a singular person. These are: I, you, he, she, it, him, her, me, my, your, his, and hers.

What are the 20 examples of demonstrative pronouns? ›

Using Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative PronounNumber (Singular/Plural)Example
this(Singular)This plays music.
these(Plural)These play games.
that(Singular)That music is loud.
those(Plural)Those games are difficult.

How many types of pronouns are there in Class 7? ›

The Seven Types of Pronouns. There are seven types of pronouns that both English and English as a second language writers must recognize: the personal pronoun, the demonstrative pronoun, the interrogative pronoun, the relative pronoun, the indefinite pronoun, the reflexive pronoun, and the intensive pronoun.

What are subject and object pronouns Grade 7? ›

Subject pronouns are I, he, she, you, it, we, and they, while object pronouns are me, you, him, her, them, us, and it. Subject pronouns replace the noun performing the action in a sentence and object pronouns replace the noun receiving the action in a sentence (and are usually found in the predicate).

What is personal pronoun grade 8? ›

Personal pronouns are used instead of common names and act just like the noun, subject, or object in a sentence or a phrase. For example: I, she, we, us, they, them, it, you, me. Some sentences that use personal pronouns are: Rita is a good girl.

What are pronouns Grade 8? ›

A pronoun is used in the place of a noun. It substitutes the noun in a paragraph or piece of writing to avoid repetition of the noun. Pronouns can be used in singular and plural forms. The verb used in the sentence should be used in accordance with the particular form of the pronoun used.

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