- English Grammar A1 Level for Ukrainian speakers - https://open.books4languages.com/english-a1-grammar-uk -

Subject Pronouns

Introduction

Pronouns are words used to avoid repetitions of a noun.

We distinguish Subject Pronouns depending on number (singular, plural) and gender (masculine, feminine, neutral). Subject Pronouns are used to avoid repetitions.

Form

The Subject Pronouns with the verb have this structure:
Subject + verb.

Subject Person Number Gender
I 1st person sing.
You 2nd person sing.
He 3rd person sing. masculine
She 3rd person sing. feminine
It 3rd person sing. neutral*
We 1st person plur.
You 2nd person plur.
They 3rd person plur.

* (object/animal)

Example

  1. Subject of the verb
    • I am fast.
    • You are pretty.
    • He is short.
    • She is beautiful.
    • It is big.
    • We are young.
    • You are athletes.
    • They are fat.
  2. To replace the person and avoid repetitions:
    • [n/a]*
    • Andy, take off that hat, you look funny.
    • John is tall and he is also thin.
    • Maria is from Spain, she is Spanish.
    • I like the color red, it is passionate.
    • Julia and I come from France, we are French.
    • You and Peter always talk, you are really talkative.
    • John and Maria are fat, they eat a lot.

*Non applicable for the first person.

Use

Subject Pronouns are the pronouns used:

  • As the subject of the verb;
  • To replace the person and avoid repetitions.

Summary

Subject Pronouns differ in gender (masculine, feminine and neutral) and number (singular and plural).

We use Subject Pronouns for two reasons:

  • They can be used as the subject of the verb;
  • They can be used to replace a person or thing which has been previously mentioned, to avoid repetitions.

I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they.

For example:
— “He is handsome” = In this case, the pronoun he behaves as a subject and has no other purposes.
— “Look at David, he is handsome!” = In this case, the pronoun he replaces the subject expressed in the first part of the sentence (he= David).

NOTE: If you want to use Subject Pronouns as a replacement, it is not possible to do this when you need to use the first person singular (I).

Let’s revise this content within the [Form] section. Take a look at the [Example] section that shows its use within a context.