2 Subject Pronouns

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Introduction

Pronouns are words used to avoid repetitions of a noun.

Subject pronouns replace a subject which is a person or a thing in a sentence.

Form

We distinguish subject pronouns depending on number (singular, plural) and gender (masculine, feminine, neutral).

Subject pronouns are used before verbs in the sentence.

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

* (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 noun phrase subject 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 are always talking, you are really talkative.
    • John and Maria are fat, they eat a lot.

*Not applicable to the first person singular.

Use

We use Subject pronouns:

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

Summary

Subject pronouns are used as the subject of the verb, or to replace a noun phrase subject, which has been previously mentioned, and avoid repetitions.

They differ in gender and number, and are placed before verbs.

Subject pronouns are: I, you, he, she, it, we, you and they.

For example:
— “I am tall.” = I refers to the speaker.
— “He is tall.” = He refers to the one specific boy.
— “They are tall.” = They refers to some specific people.

NOTE: If you want to use subject pronouns as a replacement, it is not possible to do so with 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 sentence.

Related

Beside Subject pronouns are used as the subject of the verb, there are other types of pronouns which have different uses:

–Possessive pronouns used to show that one thing belongs to someone;

–Demonstrative pronouns used to refer to things and identify their position and distance from the speaker;

–Relative pronouns used to introduce relative clauses;

–Object pronouns used as an object;

  • At level A2, you will also see that there are other types of pronouns such as:

–Reflexive pronouns used to emphasize the subject of the sentence;

–Relative pronouns of people and things used to introduce relative clauses and refer to people or things;

–Relative pronouns of place and time used to refer introduce relative clauses and to place and time;

–Indefinite pronouns: Something and Nothing do not refer to any specific person, thing or amount;

  • At level B1, we have other types of pronouns:

–Generic Pronoun You refer to all people in general.

Subject pronouns are distinguished depending on number and gender.

Exercises


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