What is the pronoun case of the word they

This article is about the English personal pronoun. For other uses, see They (disambiguation).

«Theirs» redirects here. Not to be confused with Thiers.

In Modern English, they is a third-person pronoun relating to a grammatical subject.

MorphologyEdit

In Standard Modern English, they has five distinct word forms:^[1]

• they: the nominative (subjective) form
• them: the accusative (objective, called the ‘oblique’.^[2]: 146) and a non-standard determinative form.
• their: the dependent genitive (possessive) form
• theirs: independent genitive form
• themselves: prototypical reflexive form
• themself: derivative reflexive form (nonstandard; now chiefly used instead of «himself or herself» as a reflexive epicenity for they in pronominal reference to a singular referent)^[3]

HistoryEdit

Old English had a single third-person pronoun hē, which had both singular and plural forms, and they wasn’t among them. In or about the start of the 13th century, they was imported from a Scandinavian source (Old Norse þeir, Old Danish, Old Swedish þer, þair), where it was a masculine plural demonstrative pronoun. It comes from Proto-Germanic *thai, nominative plural pronoun, from PIE *to-, demonstrative pronoun.^[4]

By Chaucer’s time the th— form has been adopted in London for the subject case only, whereas the oblique cases remain in their native form (hem, here < OE heom, heora). At the same period (and indeed before), Scots texts, such as Barbour’s Bruce, have the th— form in all cases.^[5]: 176

The development in Middle English is shown in the following table. At the final stage, it had reached its modern form.

Three stages of they in Middle English^[5]: 121

	I	II	III
Nominative	þei	þei	þei
Oblique	hem	hem	hem ~ þem
Genitive	her(e)	her(e) ~ þeir	þeir

Singular theyEdit

Singular they is a use of they as an epicene (gender-neutral) pronoun for a singular referent.^[6][7] In this usage, they follows plural agreement rules (they are, not *they is), but the semantic reference is singular. Unlike plural they, singular they is only used for people. For this reason, it could be considered to have personal gender. Some people refuse to use the epicene pronoun they when referring to individuals on the basis that it is primarily a plural pronoun instead of a singular pronoun.^[8][9][10]

Word of the yearEdit

In December 2019, Merriam-Webster chose singular they as word of the year. The word was chosen because «English famously lacks a gender-neutral singular pronoun to correspond neatly with singular pronouns like everyone or someone, and as a consequence they has been used for this purpose for over 600 years.»^[11]

SyntaxEdit

FunctionsEdit

They can appear as a subject, object, determiner or predicative complement.^[1] The reflexive form also appears as an adjunct.

• Subject: They‘re there; them being there; their being there; they allowed for themselves to be there.
• Object: I saw them; I directed her to them; They connect to themselves.
• Predicative complement: In our attempt to fight evil, we have become them; They eventually felt they had become themselves.
• Dependent determiner: I touched their top; them folks are helpful (non-standard)
• Independent determiner: This is theirs.
• Adjunct: They did it themselves.

DependentsEdit

Pronouns rarely take dependents, but it is possible for they to have many of the same kind of dependents as other noun phrases.

• Relative clause modifier: they who arrive late
• Determiner: Sometimes, when you think, «I will show them,» the them you end up showing is yourself.
• Adjective phrase modifier: the real them
• Adverb phrase external modifier: Not even them

SemanticsEdit

Plural they‘s referents can be anything, including persons, as long as it doesn’t include the speaker (which would require we) or the addressee(s) (which would require you). Singular they can only refer to individual persons. Until the end of the 20th century, this was limited to those whose gender is unknown (e.g., Someone’s here. I wonder what they want; That person over there seems to be waving their hands at us.).^[12]

GenericEdit

The pronoun they can also be used to refer to an unspecified group of people, as in In Japan they drive on the left. or They‘re putting in a McDonald’s across the street from the Target. It often refers to the authorities, or to some perceived powerful group, sometimes sinister: They don’t want the public to know the whole truth.

PronunciationEdit

According to the OED, the following pronunciations are used:

Form	Full	Reduced	Recording
they	/ˈðeɪ/		female speaker with US accent
them	(UK) /ˈðɛm/ (US) /ˈðɛm/	(UK) /ð(ə)m/ (US) /ðəm/	female speaker with US accent
their	(UK) /ˈðɛː/ (US) /ˈðɛr/	(UK) /ðə/ (US) /ðər/	female speaker with US accent
theirs	(UK) /ˈðɛːz/ (US) /ˈðɛrz/		female speaker with US accent
themselves	/ðɛmˈsɛlvz/	(UK) /ð(ə)mˈsɛlvz/ (US) /ðəmˈsɛlvz/	female speaker with US accent
themself	/ðɛmˈsɛlf/	(UK) /ð(ə)mˈsɛlf/ (US) /ðəmˈsɛlf/

In popular cultureEdit

• Them is a Northern Irish band.

See alsoEdit

• English personal pronouns
• Genderqueer
• Generic antecedents
• Object pronoun
• Possessive pronoun
• Spivak pronoun
• Subject pronoun

ReferencesEdit

Singular they, along with its inflected or derivative forms, them, their, theirs and themselves (also themself, and theirself), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent, in sentences such as:

«Somebody left their umbrella in the office. Could you please let them know where they can get it?»^[1]

«My personal rule is to never trust anyone who says that they had a good time in high school.»^[2]

«The patient should be told at the outset how much they will be required to pay.»^[3]

«But a journalist should not be forced to reveal their sources.»^[3]

This use of singular they had emerged by the 14th century,^[2] about a century after the plural they. It has been commonly employed in everyday English ever since and has gained currency in official contexts. Singular they has been criticised since the mid-18th century by prescriptive commentators who consider it an error.^[4] Its continued use in modern standard English has become more common and formally accepted with the move toward gender-neutral language.^[5][6] Though some early-21st-century style guides described it as colloquial and less appropriate in formal writing,^[7][8] by 2020 most style guides accepted the singular they as a personal pronoun.^{[9][10][11][12]}

In the early 21st century, use of singular they with known individuals emerged for people who do not identify as male or female, as in, for example, «This is my friend, Jay. I met them at work.»^[13] They in this context was named Word of the Year for 2015 by the American Dialect Society,^[14] and for 2019 by Merriam-Webster.^[15][16][17] In 2020, the American Dialect Society also selected it as Word of the Decade for the 2010s.^[18]

Inflected forms and derivative pronouns[edit]

Like the «singular you«, «singular they» permits a singular antecedent, but is used with the same verb forms as plural they,^[19][20][21] and has the same inflected forms as plural they (i.e. them, their, and theirs),^[22] except that in the reflexive form, themself is sometimes used instead of themselves.^[23]

Inflected forms of third-person personal pronouns

Pronoun	Subjective (nominative)	Objective (accusative)	Prenominal possessive (dependent genitive)	Predicative possessive (independent genitive)	Reflexive
He	He is my son.	When my son cries, I hug him.	My son tells me his age.	If I lose my phone, my son lends me his.	My son dresses himself.
She	She is my daughter.	When my daughter cries, I hug her.	My daughter tells me her age.	If I lose my phone, my daughter lends me hers.	My daughter dresses herself.
Plural they	They are my children.	When my children cry, I hug them.	My children tell me their ages.	If I lose my phone, my children lend me theirs.	My children dress themselves.
Singular they[24]	They are a child.	When a child cries, I hug them.	A child tells me their age.	If I lose my phone, a child lends me theirs.	A child dresses themself [or themselves].
Generic he	He is a child.	When a child cries, I hug him.	A child tells me his age.	If I lose my phone, a child lends me his.	A child dresses himself.
It	It is a child.	When a child cries, I hug it.	A child tells me its age.	If I lose my phone, a child lends me its.	A child dresses itself.

Themself is attested from the 14th to 16th centuries. Its use has been increasing since the 1970s^[25][26] or 1980s,^[27] though it is sometimes still classified as «a minority form».^[28] In 2002, Payne and Huddleston, in The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, called its use in standard dialect «rare and acceptable only to a minority of speakers» but «likely to increase with the growing acceptance of they as a singular pronoun».^[25] It is useful when referring to a single person of indeterminate gender, where the plural form themselves might seem incongruous, as in:

«It is not an actor pretending to be Reagan or Thatcher, it is, in grotesque form, the person themself.» — Ian Hislop (1984);^[29] quoted in Fowler’s^[30]

Regional preferences[edit]

The Canadian government recommends themselves as the reflexive form of singular they for use in Canadian federal legislative texts and advises against using themself.^[31]

Usage[edit]

They with a singular antecedent goes back to the Middle English of the 14th century^[32][33] (slightly younger than they with a plural antecedent, which was borrowed from Old Norse in the 13th century),^[34] and has remained in use for centuries in spite of its proscription by traditional grammarians beginning in the mid 18th century.^[35][36]

Informal spoken English exhibits universal use of the singular they. An examination by Jürgen Gerner of the British National Corpus published in 1998 found that British speakers, regardless of social status, age, sex, or region, used the singular they more often than the gender-neutral he or other options.^[37]

Prescription of generic he[edit]

Alongside they, it has historically been acceptable to use the pronoun he to refer to an indefinite person of any gender,^[38] as in the following:

«If any one did not know it, it was his own fault.» — George Washington Cable, Old Creole Days (1879);^[39] quoted by Baskervill & Sewell.^[40]

«Every person who turns this page has his own little diary.» — W. M. Thackeray, On Lett’s Diary (1869);^[41] quoted in Baskervill & Sewell, An English Grammar.^[42]

The earliest known explicit recommendation by a grammarian to use the generic he rather than they in formal English is Ann Fisher’s mid-18th century A New Grammar assertion that «The Masculine Person answers to the general Name, which comprehends both Male and Female; as, any Person who knows what he says.» (Ann Fisher^[43] as quoted by Ostade^[44])

Nineteenth-century grammarians insisted on he as a gender-neutral pronoun on the grounds of number agreement, while rejecting «he or she» as clumsy,^[45] and this was widely adopted: e.g. in 1850, the British Parliament passed an act which provided that, when used in acts of Parliament «words importing the masculine gender shall be deemed and taken to include females».^[46][47] Baskervill and Sewell mention the common use of the singular they in their An English Grammar for the Use of High School, Academy and College Class of 1895, but prefer the generic he on the basis of number agreement.

Baskervill gives a number of examples of recognized authors using the singular they, including:

«Every one must judge according to their own feelings.» — Lord Byron, Werner (1823),^[48] quoted as «Every one must judge of [sic] their own feelings.»^[49]

«Had the Doctor been contented to take my dining tables as any body in their senses would have done …» — Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (1814);^[50][49]

It has been argued that the real motivation for promoting the «generic» he was an androcentric world view, with the default sex of humans being male – and the default gender therefore being masculine.^[45] There is some evidence for this: Wilson wrote in 1560:

«… let us keepe a naturall order, and set the man before the woman for manners sake». — Wilson, The arte of Rhetorique (1560);^[51]

«… the worthier is preferred and set before. As a man is set before a woman …» — Wilson, The arte of Rhetorique (1560);^[52]

And Poole wrote in 1646:

«The Masculine gender is more worthy than the Feminine.» — Poole, The English Accidence (1646);^[53] cited by Bodine^[54]

In spite of continuous attempts on the part of educationalists to proscribe singular they in favour of he, this advice was ignored; even writers of the period continued to use they (though the proscription may have been observed more by American writers).^[55][56] Use of the purportedly gender-neutral he remained acceptable until at least the 1960s,^[38] though some uses of he were later criticized as being awkward or silly, for instance when referring to:^[57]

• Indeterminate persons of both sexes:

«The ideal that every boy and girl should be so equipped that he shall not be handicapped in his struggle for social progress …» — C. C. Fries, American English Grammar, (1940).^[58]

• Known persons of both sexes:

«She and Louis had a game – who could find the ugliest photograph of himself.» — Joseph P. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin (1971)^[59]

Contemporary use of he to refer to a generic or indefinite antecedent[edit]

He is still sometimes found in contemporary writing when referring to a generic or indeterminate antecedent. In some cases it is clear from the situation that the persons potentially referred to are likely to be male, as in:

«The patient should be informed of his therapeutic options.» — a text about prostate cancer (2004)^[60]

In some cases the antecedent may refer to persons who are only probably male or to occupations traditionally thought of as male:

«It wouldn’t be as if the lone astronaut would be completely by himself.» (2008)^[61]

«Kitchen table issues … are ones the next president can actually do something about if he actually cares about it. More likely if she cares about it!» — Hillary Rodham Clinton (2008)^[62]

In other situations, the antecedent may refer to an indeterminate person of either sex:

«Now, a writer is entitled to have a Roget on his desk.» — Barzun (1985);^[63] quoted in Merriam-Webster’s Concise Dictionary of English Usage^[64]

«A Member of Parliament should always live in his constituency.»^[65]

In 2010, Choy and Clark still recommend the use of generic he «in formal speech or writing»:^[66]

«… when indefinite pronouns are used as antecedents, they require singular subject, object, and possessive pronouns …»

«Everyone did as he pleased»

In informal spoken English, plural pronouns are often used with indefinite pronoun antecedents. However, this construction is generally not considered appropriate in formal speech or writing.

Informal: Somebody should let you borrow their book.

Formal: Somebody should let you borrow his book.»

— Choy, Basic Grammar and Usage^[66]

In 2015, Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage calls this «the now outmoded use of he to mean ‘anyone‘«,^[67] stating:^[68]

From the earliest times until about the 1960s it was unquestionably acceptable to use the pronoun he (and him, himself, his) with indefinite reference to denote a person of either sex, especially after indefinite pronouns and determiners such as anybody,  … every, etc., after gender-neutral nouns such as person … [but] alternative devices are now usually resorted to. When a gender-neutral pronoun or determiner … is needed, the options usually adopted are the plural forms they, their, themselves, etc., or he or she (his or her, etc.)

In 2016, Garner’s Modern English calls the generic use of masculine pronouns «the traditional view, now widely assailed as sexist».^[69]

The rise of gender-neutral language[edit]

The earliest known attempt to create gender-neutral pronouns dates back to 1792, when Scottish economist James Anderson advocated for an indeterminate pronoun «ou».^[70]

In 1808, poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge suggested «it» and «which» as neutral pronouns for the word «Person»:^[71][72]

In the second half of the 20th century, people expressed more widespread concern at the use of male-oriented language.^[73] This included criticism of the use of man as a generic term to include men and women and of the use of he to refer to any human, regardless of sex (social gender).^[74]

It was argued that he could not sensibly be used as a generic pronoun understood to include men and women. William Safire in his On Language column in The New York Times approved of the use of generic he, mentioning the mnemonic phrase «the male embraces the female».^[75] C. Badendyck from Brooklyn wrote to the New York Times in a reply:^[76]

The average American needs the small routines of getting ready for work. As he shaves or blow-dries his hair or pulls on his panty-hose, he is easing himself by small stages into the demands of the day.

By 1980, the movement toward gender-neutral language had gained wide support, and many organizations, including most publishers, had issued guidelines on the use of gender-neutral language,^[73] but stopped short of recommending they to be third-person singular with a non-indeterminate, singular antecedent.^{[citation needed]}

Contemporary usage[edit]

The use of masculine generic nouns and pronouns in written and spoken language has decreased since the 1970s.^[77]
In a corpus of spontaneous speech collected in Australia in the 1990s, singular they had become the most frequently used generic pronoun (rather than generic he or he or she).^[77] Similarly, a study from 2002 looking at a corpus of American and British newspapers showed a preference for they to be used as a singular epicene pronoun.^[78]

The increased use of singular they may owe in part to an increasing desire for gender-neutral language. A solution in formal writing has often been to write «he or she», or something similar, but this is often considered awkward or overly politically correct, particularly when used excessively.^[79][80] In 2016, the journal American Speech published a study by Darren K. LaScotte investigating the pronouns used by native English speakers in informal written responses to questions concerning a subject of unspecified gender, finding that 68% of study participants chose singular they to refer to such an antecedent. Some participants noted that they found constructions such as «he or she» inadequate as they do not include people who identify as neither male nor female.^[81]

They in this context was named Word of the Year for 2019 by Merriam-Webster^[15][16][17] and for 2015 by the American Dialect Society.^[14] On January 4, 2020, the American Dialect Society announced they had crowned they, again in this context, Word of the Decade for the 2010s.^[18]

Use with a pronoun antecedent[edit]

The singular antecedent can be a pronoun such as someone, anybody, or everybody, or an interrogative pronoun such as who:

• With somebody or someone:

«I feel that if someone is not doing their job it should be called to their attention.» — an American newspaper (1984); quoted by Fowler.^[82]

• With anybody or anyone:

«If anyone tells you that America’s best days are behind her, then they‘re looking the wrong way.» President George Bush, 1991 State of the Union Address;^[83] quoted by Garner^[84]

«Anyone can set themselves up as an acupuncturist.» — Sarah Lonsdale «Sharp Practice Pricks Reputation of Acupuncture». Observer 15 December 1991, as cited by Garner^[84]

«If anybody calls, take their name and ask them to call again later.» Example given by Swan^[1]

«It will be illegal for anyone to donate an organ to their wife, husband, adopted child, adopted parent or close friend.» ^[85][a]

• With nobody or no one:

«No one put their hand up.» Example given by Huddleston et al.^[86]

«No one felt they had been misled.» Example given by Huddleston et al.^[3]

• With an interrogative pronoun as antecedent:

«Who thinks they can solve the problem?». Example given by Huddleston et al.; The Cambridge Grammar of the English language.^[87]

• With everybody, everyone, etc.:

«Everyone promised to behave themselves.» Example given by Huddleston et al.^[3]

Notional plurality or pairwise relationships[edit]

Although the pronouns everybody, everyone, nobody, and no one are singular in form and are used with a singular verb, these pronouns have an «implied plurality» that is somewhat similar to the implied plurality of collective or group nouns such as crowd or team,^[b] and in some sentences where the antecedent is one of these «implied plural» pronouns, the word they cannot be replaced by generic he,^[89] suggesting a «notional plural» rather than a «bound variable» interpretation (see § Grammatical and logical analysis, below). This is in contrast to sentences that involve multiple pairwise relationships and singular they, such as:

«Everyone loves their mother.»^[90]

«‘I never did get into that football thing’, she said after everyone returned to their seat.»^[91]

«Everyone doubts themselves/themself at one time or another.»

There are examples where the antecedent pronoun (such as everyone) may refer to a collective, with no necessary implication of pairwise relationships. These are examples of plural they:

«At first everyone in the room was singing; then they began to laugh.» Example given by Kolln.^[89]

«Everybody was crouched behind the furniture to surprise me, and they tried to. But I already knew they were there.» Example given by Garner.^[92]

«Nobody was late, were they?» Example given by Swan.^[1]

Which are apparent because they do not work with a generic he or he or she:

«At first everyone in the room was singing; then he or she began to laugh.» Example given by Kolln.^[89]

«Everybody was crouched behind the furniture to surprise me, and he tried to. But I already knew he was there.»

«Nobody was late, was he?»

In addition, for these «notional plural» cases, it would not be appropriate to use themself instead of themselves as in:

«Everybody was crouched behind the furniture to surprise me, but they instead surprised themself.»

Use with a generic noun as antecedent[edit]

The singular antecedent can also be a noun such as person, patient, or student:

• With a noun (e.g. person, student, patient) used generically (e.g. in the sense of any member of that class or a specific member unknown to the speaker or writer)

«cognitive dissonance: «a concept in psychology [that] describes the condition in which a person’s attitudes conflict with their behaviour». — Macmillan Dictionary of Business and Management (1988), as cited by Garner.^[84]

«A starting point would be to give more support to the company secretary. They are, or should be, privy to the confidential deliberations and secrets of the board and the company. — Ronald Severn. «Protecting the Secretary Bird». Financial Times, 6 January 1992; quoted by Garner.^[84]

• With representatives of a class previously referred to in the singular

«I had to decide: Is this person being irrational or is he right? Of course, they were often right.» — Robert Burchfield in U.S. News & World Report 11 August 1986, as cited in Merriam-Webster’s Concise Dictionary of English Usage^[64]

Even when referring to a class of persons of known sex, they is sometimes used:^[93]

«I swear more when I’m talking to a boy, because I’m not afraid of shocking them«. From an interview.^[1]

«No mother should be forced to testify against their child».

They may also be used with antecedents of mixed genders:

«Let me know if your father or your mother changes their mind.» Example given by Huddleston et al.^[3]

«Either the husband or the wife has perjured themself.» Here themself might be acceptable to some, themselves seems less acceptable, and himself is unacceptable. Example given by Huddleston et al.^[3]

Even for a definite known person of known sex, they may be used in order to ignore or conceal the sex.

«I had a friend in Paris, and they had to go to hospital for a month.» (definite person, not identified)^[1]

The word themself is also sometimes used when the antecedent is known or believed to be a single person:

«Someone has apparently locked themself in the office.»[acceptability questionable]^[3]

Use for specific, known people, including non-binary people[edit]

Known individuals may be referred to as they if the individual’s gender is unknown to the speaker.^[94][95]

A known individual may also be referred to as they if the individual is non-binary or genderqueer and considers they and derivatives as appropriate pronouns.^[94][95] Several social media applications permit account holders to choose to identify their gender using one of a variety of non-binary or genderqueer options,^[96] such as genderfluid, agender, or bigender, and to designate pronouns, including they/them, which they wish to be used when referring to them.^[97] Explicitly designating one’s pronouns as they/them increases the chance that people will interpret «they» as singular.^[98] Though «singular they» has long been used with antecedents such as everybody or generic persons of unknown gender, this use, which may be chosen by an individual, is recent.^[99] The earliest recorded usage of this sense documented by the Oxford English Dictionary is in a tweet from 2009;^[100][101] the journal American Speech documents an example from 2008 in an article in the journal Women’s Studies Quarterly.^[102] As of 2020, singular they is the most popular pronoun set used by non-binary people. Approximately 80% consider it appropriate for themselves.^[103][104]

The singular they in the meaning «gender-neutral singular pronoun for a known person, as a non-binary identifier»^[105] was chosen by the American Dialect Society as their «Word of the Year» for 2015.^[99] In 2016, the American Dialect Society wrote:

«While editors have increasingly moved to accepting singular they when used in a generic fashion, voters in the Word of the Year proceedings singled out its newer usage as an identifier for someone who may identify as non-binary in gender terms.»^[106]

The vote followed the previous year’s approval of this use by The Washington Post style guide, when Bill Walsh, the Post‘s copy editor, said that the singular they is «the only sensible solution to English’s lack of a gender-neutral third-person singular personal pronoun».^[107]

In 2019, the non-binary they was added to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary.^{[108][109][110]}

The first non-binary main character on North American television appeared on the Showtime drama series Billions in 2017, with Asia Kate Dillon playing Taylor Mason.^[111][112] Both actor and character use singular they.

Acceptability and prescriptive guidance[edit]

Though both generic he and generic they have long histories of use, and both are still used, both are also systematically avoided by particular groups.^[113]

Style guides that avoid expressing a preference for either approach sometimes recommend recasting a problem sentence, for instance replacing generic expressions with plurals to avoid the criticisms of either party.

The use of singular they may be more accepted in British English than in American English,^[114] or vice versa.^[115]

Usage guidance in American style guides[edit]

Garner’s Modern American Usage[edit]

Garner’s Modern American Usage (2nd ed., 2003) recommends cautious use of singular they, and avoidance where possible because its use is stigmatized.

«Where noun–pronoun disagreement can be avoided, avoid it. Where it can’t be avoided, resort to it cautiously because some people will doubt your literacy …»^[116]

Garner suggests that use of singular they is more acceptable in British English:

«Speakers of AmE resist this development more than speakers of BrE, in which the indeterminate they is already more or less standard.»^[114]

and apparently regrets the resistance by the American language community:

«That it sets many literate Americans’ teeth on edge is an unfortunate obstacle to what promises to be the ultimate solution to the problem.»^[114]

He regards the trend toward using singular they with antecedents like everybody, anyone and somebody as inevitable:

«Disturbing though these developments may be to purists, they’re irreversible. And nothing that a grammarian says will change them.»^[117]

The Chicago Manual of Style[edit]

In the 14th edition (1993) of The Chicago Manual of Style, the University of Chicago Press explicitly recommended using singular they and their, noting a «revival» of this usage and citing «its venerable use by such writers as Addison, Austen, Chesterfield, Fielding, Ruskin, Scott, and Shakespeare.»^[118]
From the 15th edition (2003), this was changed. In Chapter 5 of the 17th edition (2017), now written by Bryan A. Garner, the recommendations are:^[119]

Normally, a singular antecedent requires a singular pronoun. But because he is no longer universally accepted as a generic pronoun referring to a person of unspecified gender, people commonly (in speech and in informal writing) substitute the third-person-plural pronouns they, them, their, and themselves (or the nonstandard singular themself). While this usage is accepted in those spheres, it is only lately showing signs of gaining acceptance in formal writing, where Chicago recommends avoiding its use. When referring specifically to a person who does not identify with a gender-specific pronoun, however, they and its forms are often preferred.

The American Heritage Book of English Usage (1996)[edit]

According to The American Heritage Book of English Usage and its usage panel of selected writers, journalism professors, linguists, and other experts, many Americans avoid use of they to refer to a singular antecedent out of respect for a «traditional» grammatical rule, despite use of singular they by modern writers of note and mainstream publications:^[120]

Most of the Usage Panel rejects the use of they with singular antecedents as ungrammatical, even in informal speech. Eighty-two percent find the sentence The typical student in the program takes about six years to complete their course work unacceptable … panel members seem to make a distinction between singular nouns, such as the typical student and a person, and pronouns that are grammatically singular but semantically plural, such as anyone, everyone and no one. Sixty-four percent of panel members accept the sentence No one is willing to work for those wages anymore, are they?

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association[edit]

The 7th edition of the American Psychological Association’s Publication Manual, released in October 2019, advises using singular «they» when gender is unknown or irrelevant, and gives the following example:^[121]

For instance, rather than writing «I don’t know who wrote this note, but he or she has good handwriting,» you might write something like «I don’t know who wrote this note, but they have good handwriting.»

APA style also endorses using they/them if it is someone’s (for example, a non-binary person’s) preferred pronoun set.^[122]

Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style[edit]

William Strunk Jr. & E. B. White, the original authors of The Elements of Style, found use of they with a singular antecedent unacceptable and advised use of the singular pronoun (he). In the 3rd edition (1979), the recommendation was still:^[123]

They. Not to be used when the antecedent is a distributive expression, such as each, each one. everybody, every one, many a man. Use the singular pronoun. … A similar fault is the use of the plural pronoun with the antecedent anybody, anyone, somebody, someone ….

The assessment, in 1979, was:^[123]

The use of he as pronoun for nouns embracing both genders is a simple, practical convention rooted in the beginnings of the English language. He has lost all suggestion of maleness in these circumstances. … It has no pejorative connotation; it is never incorrect.

In the 4th edition (2000), use of singular they was still proscribed against, but use of generic he was no longer recommended.^[124]

Joseph M. Williams’s The Basics of Clarity and Grace (2009)[edit]

Joseph M. Williams, who wrote a number of books on writing with «clarity and grace», discusses the advantages and disadvantages of various solutions when faced with the problem of referring to an antecedent such as someone, everyone, no one or a noun that does not indicate gender and suggests that this will continue to be a problem for some time. He «suspect[s] that eventually we will accept the plural they as a correct singular» but states that currently «formal usage requires a singular pronoun».^[125]

The Little, Brown Handbook (1992)[edit]

According to The Little, Brown Handbook, most experts – and some teachers and employers – find use of singular they unacceptable:

Although some experts accept they, them, and their with singular indefinite words, most do not, and many teachers and employers regard the plural as incorrect. To be safe, work for agreement between singular indefinite words and the pronouns that refer to them ….

It recommends using he or she or avoiding the problem by rewriting the sentence to use a plural or omit the pronoun.^[126]

Purdue Online Writing Lab[edit]

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) states that «grammar shifts and changes over time», that the use of singular they is acceptable,^[127] and that singular «they» as a replacement for «he» or «she» is more inclusive:

When individuals whose gender is neither male nor female (e.g. nonbinary, agender, genderfluid, etc.) use the singular they to refer to themselves, they are using the language to express their identities. Adopting this language is one way writers can be inclusive of a range of people and identities.

— Purdue Writing Lab

The Washington Post[edit]

The Washington Post’s stylebook, as of 2015, recommends trying to «write around the problem, perhaps by changing singulars to plurals, before using the singular they as a last resort» and specifically permits use of they for a «gender-nonconforming person».^[94]

Associated Press Stylebook[edit]

The Associated Press Stylebook, as of 2017, recommends: «They/them/their is acceptable in limited cases as a singular and-or gender-neutral pronoun, when alternative wording is overly awkward or clumsy. However, rewording usually is possible and always is preferable.»^[128]

The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing[edit]

In The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing, Casey Miller and Kate Swift accept or recommend singular uses of they in cases where there is an element of semantic plurality expressed by a word such as «everyone» or where an indeterminate person is referred to, citing examples of such usage in formal speech.^[129] They also suggest rewriting sentences to use a plural they, eliminating pronouns, or recasting sentences to use «one» or (for babies) «it».^[130]

Usage guidance in British style guides[edit]

In the first edition of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (published in 1926) use of the generic he is recommended.^[131] It is stated that singular they is disapproved of by grammarians. Numerous examples of its use by eminent writers in the past are given, but it is stated that «few good modern writers would flout [grammarians] so conspicuously as Fielding and Thackeray», whose sentences are described as having an «old-fashioned sound».^[132]

The second edition, Fowler’s Modern English Usage (edited by Sir Ernest Gowers and published in 1965) continues to recommend use of the generic he; use of the singular they is called «the popular solution», which «sets the literary man’s teeth on edge».^[133] It is stated that singular they is still disapproved of by grammarians but common in colloquial speech.^[134]

According to the third edition, The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage (edited by Robert Burchfield and published in 1996) singular they has not only been widely used by good writers for centuries, but is now generally accepted, except by some conservative grammarians, including the Fowler of 1926, who, it is argued, ignored the evidence:

Over the centuries, writers of standing have used they, their, and them with anaphoric reference to a singular noun or pronoun, and the practice has continued in the 20C. to the point that, traditional grammarians aside, such constructions are hardly noticed any more or are not widely felt to lie in a prohibited zone. Fowler (1926) disliked the practice … and gave a number of unattributed «faulty’ examples … The evidence presented in the OED points in another direction altogether.^[135]

The Complete Plain Words was originally written in 1948 by Ernest Gowers, a civil servant, in an attempt by the British civil service to improve «official English». A second edition, edited by Sir Bruce Fraser, was published in 1973. It refers to they or them as the «equivalent of a singular pronoun of common sex» as «common in speech and not unknown in serious writing » but «stigmatized by grammarians as usage grammatically indefensible. The book’s advice for «official writers» (civil servants) is to avoid its use and not to be tempted by its «greater convenience», though «necessity may eventually force it into the category of accepted idiom».^[136]

A new edition of Plain Words, revised and updated by Gowers’s great-granddaughter, Rebecca Gowers, was published in 2014.
It notes that singular they and them have become much more widespread since Gowers’ original comments, but still finds it «safer» to treat a sentence like ‘The reader may toss their book aside’ as incorrect «in formal English», while rejecting even more strongly sentences like

«There must be opportunity for the individual boy or girl to go as far as his keenness and ability will take him.»^[137]

The Times Style and Usage Guide (first published in 2003 by The Times of London) recommends avoiding sentences like

«If someone loves animals, they should protect them.»

by using a plural construction:

«If people love animals, they should protect them.»

The Cambridge Guide to English Usage (2004, Cambridge University Press) finds singular they «unremarkable»:

For those listening or reading, it has become unremarkable – an element of common usage.^[138]

It expresses several preferences.

• «Generic/universal their provides a gender-free pronoun, avoiding the exclusive his and the clumsy his/her. It avoids gratuitous sexism and gives the statement broadest reference … They, them, their are now freely used in agreement with singular indefinite pronouns and determiners, those with universal implications such as any(one), every(one), no(one), as well as each and some(one), whose reference is often more individual …»^[138]

The Economist Style Guide refers to the use of they in sentences like

«We can’t afford to squander anyone’s talents, whatever colour their skin is.»

as «scrambled syntax that people adopt because they cannot bring themselves to use a singular pronoun».^[139]

New Hart’s Rules (Oxford University Press, 2012) is aimed at those engaged in copy editing, and the emphasis is on the formal elements of presentation including punctuation and typeface, rather than on linguistic style, although – like The Chicago Manual of Style – it makes occasional forays into matters of usage. It advises against use of the purportedly gender-neutral he, and suggests cautious use of they where he or she presents problems.

… it is now regarded … as old-fashioned or sexist to use he in reference to a person of unspecified sex, as in every child needs to know that he is loved. The alternative he or she is often preferred, and in formal contexts probably the best solution, but can become tiresome or long-winded when used frequently. Use of they in this sense (everyone needs to feel that they matter) is becoming generally accepted both in speech and in writing, especially where it occurs after an indefinite pronoun such as everyone or someone, but should not be imposed by an editor if an author has used he or she consistently.^[140]

The 2011 edition of the New International Version Bible uses singular they instead of the traditional he when translating pronouns that apply to both genders in the original Greek or Hebrew. This decision was based on research by a commission that studied modern English usage and determined that singular they (them/their) was by far the most common way that English-language speakers and writers today refer back to singular antecedents such as whoever, anyone, somebody, a person, no one, and the like.»^[141]

The British edition of The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing, modified in some respects from the original US edition to conform to differences in culture and vocabulary, preserved the same recommendations, allowing singular they with semantically plural terms like «everyone» and indeterminate ones like «person», but recommending a rewrite to avoid.^[130]

Australian usage guidance[edit]

The Australian Federation Press Style Guide for Use in Preparation of Book Manuscripts recommends «gender-neutral language should be used», stating that use of they and their as singular pronouns is acceptable.^[142]

Usage guidance in English grammars[edit]

According to A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (1985):^[115]

The pronoun they is commonly used as a 3rd person singular pronoun that is neutral between masculine and feminine … At one time restricted to informal usage. it is now increasingly accepted in formal usage, especially in [American English].

The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language discusses the prescriptivist argument that they is a plural pronoun and that the use of they with a singular «antecedent» therefore violates the rule of agreement between antecedent and pronoun, but takes the view that they, though primarily plural, can also be singular in a secondary extended sense, comparable to the purportedly extended sense of he to include female gender.^[25]

Use of singular they is stated to be «particularly common», even «stylistically neutral» with antecedents such as everyone, someone, and no one, but more restricted when referring to common nouns as antecedents, as in

«The patient should be told at the outset how much they will be required to pay.»^[3]

«A friend of mine has asked me to go over and help them …»^[25]

Use of the pronoun themself is described as being «rare» and «acceptable only to a minority of speakers», while use of the morphologically plural themselves is considered problematic when referring to someone rather than everyone (since only the latter implies a plural set).^[25]

There are also issues of grammatical acceptability when reflexive pronouns refer to singular noun phrases joined by or, the following all being problematic:

«Either the husband or the wife has perjured himself.» [ungrammatical]

«Either the husband or the wife has perjured themselves.» [of questionable grammaticality]

«Either the husband or the wife has perjured themself.» [typically used by only some speakers of Standard English].^[25]

On the motivation for using singular they, A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar states:^[143]

this avoidance of he can’t be dismissed just as a matter of political correctness. The real problem with using he is that it unquestionably colours the interpretation, sometimes inappropriately … he doesn’t have a genuinely sex-neutral sense.

The alternative he or she can be «far too cumbersome», as in:

«Everyone agreed that he or she would bring his or her lunch with him or her.

or even «flatly ungrammatical», as in

«Everyone’s here, isn’t he or she?^[143]

«Among younger speakers», use of singular they even with definite noun-phrase antecedents finds increasing acceptance, «sidestepping any presumption about the sex of the person referred to», as in:

«You should ask your partner what they think.»

«The person I was with said they hated the film.» Example given by Huddleston et al.^[143]

Grammatical and logical analysis[edit]

Notional agreement[edit]

Notional agreement is the idea that some uses of they might refer to a grammatically singular antecedent seen as semantically plural:

«‘Tis meet that some more audience than a mother, since nature makes them partial, should o’erhear the speech.» — Shakespeare, Hamlet (1599);^[144] quoted in Merriam-Webster’s Concise Dictionary of English Usage.^[57]

«No man goes to battle to be killed.» … «But they do get killed.» — George Bernard Shaw, quoted in Merriam-Webster’s Concise Dictionary of English Usage^[57]

According to notional agreement, in the Shakespeare quotation a mother is syntactically singular, but stands for all mothers;^[57] and in the Shaw quotation no man is syntactically singular (taking the singular form goes), but is semantically plural (all go [to kill] not to be killed), hence idiomatically requiring they.^[145] Such use, which goes back a long way, includes examples where the sex is known, as in the above examples.^[146]

Distribution[edit]

Distributive constructions apply a single idea to multiple members of a group.
They are typically marked in English by words like each, every and any. The simplest examples are applied to groups of two, and use words like either and or – «Would you like tea or coffee?». Since distributive constructions apply an idea relevant to each individual in the group, rather than to the group as a whole, they are most often conceived of as singular, and a singular pronoun is used:

«England expects that every man will do his duty.» — Nelson (1805, referring to a fleet crewed by male sailors)

«Every dog hath his day.» — John Ray, A Collection of English Proverbs (1670), originally from Plutarch, Moralia, c. 95 AD, regarding the death of Euripides.

However, many languages, including English, show ambivalence in this regard. Because distribution also requires a group with more than one member, plural forms are sometimes used.^{[c][example needed]}

Referential and non-referential anaphors[edit]

The singular they, which uses the same verb form that plurals do, is typically used to refer to an indeterminate antecedent, for example:

«The person you mentioned, are they coming?»

In some sentences, typically those including words like every or any, the morphologically singular antecedent does not refer to a single entity but is «anaphorically linked» to the associated pronoun to indicate a set of pairwise relationships, as in the sentence:^[148]

«Everyone returned to their seats.» (where each person is associated with one seat)

Linguists like Steven Pinker and Rodney Huddleston explain sentences like this (and others) in terms of bound variables, a term borrowed from logic. Pinker prefers the terms quantifier and bound variable to antecedent and pronoun.^[149] He suggests that pronouns used as «variables» in this way are more appropriately regarded as homonyms of the equivalent referential pronouns.^[150]

The following shows different types of anaphoric reference, using various pronouns, including they:

• Coreferential, with a definite antecedent (the antecedent and the anaphoric pronoun both refer to the same real-world entity):

«Your wife phoned but she didn’t leave a message.»

• Coreferential with an indefinite antecedent:

«One of your girlfriends phoned, but she didn’t leave a message.»

«One of your boyfriends phoned, but he didn’t leave a message.»

«One of your friends phoned, but they didn’t leave a message.»

• Reference to a hypothetical, indefinite entity

«If you had an unemployed daughter, what would you think if she wanted to accept work as a mercenary?»

«If you had an unemployed child, what would you think if they wanted to accept work as a mercenary?»

• A bound variable pronoun is anaphorically linked to a quantifier (no single real-world or hypothetical entity is referenced; examples and explanations from Huddleston and Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language^[86]):

«No one put their hand up.» [approximately: «There is no person x such that x put x‘s hand up.»]

«Every car had its windscreen broken.» [approximately: «For every car x, x had x‘s windscreen broken.»]

Cognitive efficiency[edit]

A study of whether «singular they» is more «difficult» to understand than gendered pronouns found that «singular they is a cognitively efficient substitute for generic he or she, particularly when the antecedent is nonreferential» (e.g. anybody, a nurse, or a truck driver) rather than referring to a specific person (e.g. a runner I knew or my nurse). Clauses with singular they were read «just as quickly as clauses containing a gendered pronoun that matched the stereotype of the antecedent» (e.g. she for a nurse and he for a truck driver) and «much more quickly than clauses containing a gendered pronoun that went against the gender stereotype of the antecedent».^[151]

On the other hand, when the pronoun they was used to refer to known individuals («referential antecedents, for which the gender was presumably known», e.g. my nurse, that truck driver, a runner I knew), reading was slowed when compared with use of a gendered pronoun consistent with the «stereotypic gender» (e.g. he for a specific truck driver).^[151]

The study concluded that «the increased use of singular they is not problematic for the majority of readers».^[151]

Comparison with other pronouns[edit]

The singular and plural use of they can be compared with the pronoun you, which had been both a plural and polite singular, but by about 1700 replaced thou for singular referents.^[138] For «you», the singular reflexive pronoun («yourself») is different from its plural reflexive pronoun («yourselves»); with «they» one can hear either «themself» or «themselves» for the singular reflexive pronoun.

Singular «they» has also been compared to nosism (such as the «royal we»), when a single person uses first-person plural in place of first-person singular pronouns.^[152] Similar to singular «you», its singular reflexive pronoun («ourself») is different from the plural reflexive pronoun («ourselves»).

While the pronoun set derived from it is primarily used for inanimate objects, it is frequently used in an impersonal context when someone’s identity is unknown or established on a provisional basis, e.g. «Who is it?» or «With this new haircut, no one knows it is me.»^[153] It is also used for infants of unspecified gender but may be considered dehumanizing and is therefore more likely in a clinical context. Otherwise, in more personal contexts, the use of it to refer to a person might indicate antipathy or other negative emotions.^[154]

It can also be used for non-human animals of unspecified sex, though they is common for pets and other domesticated animals of unspecified sex, especially when referred to by a proper name^[154] (e.g. Rags, Snuggles). Normally, birds and mammals with a known sex are referred to by their respective male or female pronoun (he and she; him and her).

It is uncommon to use singular they instead of it for something other than a life form.^{[155][failed verification]}

See also[edit]

• English personal pronouns
• Gender neutrality in English
• Notional agreement
• Spivak pronoun
• Third-person pronoun#Historical, regional, and proposed gender-neutral singular pronouns
• Neopronoun
• Gender neutrality in languages with gendered third-person pronouns

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

Sources of original examples

Bibliography[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Amia Srinivasan, «He, She, One, They, Ho, Hus, Hum, Ita» (review of Dennis Baron, What’s Your Pronoun? Beyond He and She, Liveright, 2020, ISBN 978 1 63149 6042, 304 pp.), London Review of Books, vol. 42, no. 13 (2 July 2020), pp. 34–39. Prof. Srinivasan writes (p. 39): «People use non-standard pronouns, or use pronouns in non-standard ways, for various reasons: to accord with their sense of themselves, to make their passage through the world less painful, to prefigure and hasten the arrival of a world in which divisions of sex no longer matter. So too we can choose to respect people’s pronouns for many reasons.»

External links[edit]

• «Anyone who had a heart (would know their own language)» by Geoff Pullum. Transcript of a radio talk.
• A brief history of singular ‘they’ (OED blog, Dennis Baron)

• Abkhaz: дара (dara)
• Adyghe: ахэр (aaxer)
• Afar: usun
• Afrikaans: hulle (af) pl
• Akan: wɔn (animate), ɛno (inanimate)
• Albanian: ata (sq) m pl, ato (sq) f pl
• Alviri-Vidari: اووا‎ (uvā)
• Amharic: እነሱ (ʾənäsu)
• Arabic: (dual) هُمَا‎ (humā), هُم‎ (ar) pl (hum), هُنَّ‎ (ar) f pl (hunna), (non-human) هِيَ‎ (ar) (hiya)

  Egyptian Arabic: هما‎ (humma), هم‎ m pl (humm)

  Levantine Arabic: هن‎ pl (hinne), هم‎ pl (humme)

  Gulf Arabic: اهم‎ (uhum, uhmə)

  Tunisian Arabic: هُمَا‎ m pl or f pl (humā)

• Aragonese: els, ellos (masculine), ellas (feminine)
• Armenian: նրանք (hy) (nrankʿ)

  Old Armenian: նոքա (nokʿa)

• Aromanian: nãsh m pl, nãse f pl, nãsi f pl, elj m pl, eali f pl, eli f pl
• Assamese: সিহঁত (xihõt) (distal), ইহঁত (ihõt) (proximal), তেওঁলোক (teü̃lük) (distal, polite), এওঁলোক (eü̃lük) (proximal, polite)
• Asturian: ellos (ast) m pl, elles (ast) f pl
• Aymara: jupanaka
• Azerbaijani: onlar (az)
• Bambara: u
• Bashkir: улар (ular)
• Basque: haiek
• Belarusian: яны́ (be) (janý)
• Bengali: তারা (bn) (tara)
• Breton: i (br), int (br)
• Bulgarian: те (bg) (te)
• Burmese: သူတို့ (sutui.), သူများ (my) (su-mya:)
• Buryat: тэдэ (tede)
• Catalan: ells (ca) m pl, elles (ca) f pl
• Chechen: уьш (üš), уьзуш (üzuš)
• Chichewa: iwo
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: (vernacular) 佢哋 (keoi⁵ dei⁶), (literary) 他們／他们 (taa¹ mun⁴)

  Dungan: таму (tamu), ана (ana)

  Gan: 佢們／佢们 (qie² miin), 渠們／渠们 (qie² miin)

  Jin: 他們／他们 (ta¹ me)

  Mandarin: 他們／他们 (zh) (tāmen), (females only) 她們／她们 (zh) (tāmen), (non-human) 它們／它们 (zh) (tāmen)

  Min Dong: 伊各儂／伊各侬 (ĭ-gáuk-nè̤ng)

  Min Nan: 𪜶 (zh-min-nan) (in)

  Teochew: 𪜶 (zh-min-nan) (ing¹), 伊儂／伊侬 (i¹ nang⁵)

  Wu: 伊拉 (hhi la, hhi laq) (Shanghai)

  Xiang: 他們／他们 (ta¹ men)

• Chuvash: вӗсем (vĕs̬em)
• Cornish: i, jei, anjei
• Czech: oni (cs), ony (cs)
• Dalmatian: jali m pl, jale f pl
• Danish: de (da)
• Dhivehi: އެ މީހުން‎ (e mīhun̊)
• Dutch: zij (nl), ze (nl)
• Dyirbal: not used in Dyirbal (Dyirbal has no third-person pronoun)
• Dzongkha: ཁོང (khong)
• Egyptian: (suffix pronoun) (.sn), (Late Egyptian suffix pronoun)

  (.w), (enclitic pronoun) (sn), (stressed pronoun) (ntsn)

• Erzya: сынь (siń)
• Esperanto: ili (eo), tiuj (eo)
• Estonian: nemad (et) pl, nad (et) pl
• Ewe: wo
• Faroese: teir (fo) m tær (fo) f, tey (fo) n
• Fijian: (dual) ^{(please verify)} rau (fj), (paucal) ^{(please verify)} iratou, (pl) ^{(please verify)} ira
• Finnish: (of people) he (fi), (of inanimate things and animals) ne (fi), (informally of people) ne (fi), hyö (fi) (dialectal)
• French: ils (fr) m, elles (fr) f, (tonic) eux (fr) m pl, (neologism) iels (fr) n pl

  Old French: (male only or mixed) il, (female only) eles

  Louisiana French: eux (fr), eusse (fr), eux-autres (fr)

• Friulian: lôr
• Galician: eles (gl) m, elas f
• Georgian: ისინი (isini)
• German: sie (de)
• Greek: αυτοί (el) m (aftoí), αυτές (el) f (aftés), αυτά (el) n (aftá)

  Ancient Greek: οὗτοι m (hoûtoi), αὗται f (haûtai) ταῦτα (taûta); σφεῖς (spheîs)

• Guaraní: ha’ekuéra
• Gujarati: એવણ (evaṇ)
• Hausa: (independent form) súu
• Hawaiian: lāua du, lākou pl
• Hebrew: הֵם‎ (he) m (hem), הֵן‎ (he) f (hen)
• Higaonon: sidan
• Hindi: वे (hi) (ve), ये (hi) (ye)
• Hiri Motu: idia
• Hopi: puma
• Hungarian: ők (hu), (usually indicated by the suffix only) -nak, -nek
• Icelandic: þeir (is) m pl, þær (is) m or f, þau (is) n pl
• Ido: li (io), ili (io) m, eli (io) f, (things) oli (io)
• Indonesian: mereka (id)
• Ingrian: höö
• Ingush: уж (už)
• Interlingua: illes (ia) m, illas (ia) f, illos (ia) n
• Irish: siad (conjunctive), iad (disjunctive), siadsan, iadsan (emphatic)

  Old Irish: é

• Istriot: luri
• Italian: essi (it), loro (it)
• Japanese: 彼ら (ja) (かれら, karera), あいつら (aitsura), (non-human) それら (ja) (sorera), (polite) あの人達 (あのひとたち, anohito-tachi), (more polite) あの方々 (あのかたがた, anokata-gata), 彼女ら (ja) (かのじょら, kanojora) (females only)
• Kabuverdianu: es
• Kaingang: ag
• Kalmyk: тедн (tedn)
• Kannada: ಇವರು m or f (ivaru), ಇವುಗಳು n (ivugaḷu), ಇವು (kn) n (ivu), ಅವರು (kn) m or f (avaru), ಅವುಗಳು n (avugaḷu), ಅವು (kn) n (avu)
• Karakalpak: olar
• Karakhanid: اُلارْ‎ (olar)
• Kashubian: òni
• Kazakh: олар (kk) (olar)
• Khakas: олар (olar)
• Khmer: គាត់ (km) (koat), ពួកគេ (puək kee), គេ (km) (kei), ពួកគាត់ (puək kŏət)
• Korean: 그들 (geudeul), 그녀들 (geunyeodeul) (females only)
• Kyrgyz: алар (ky) (alar)
• Lakota: epi, iyepi
• Laboya: rattu
• Lao: ພວກເຂົາ (phūak khao)
• Latgalian: jī m, juos f, šī m, šuos f
• Latin: ei (la)/ii (la), hi (la), illi
• Latvian: viņi (lv) m, viņas (lv) f
• Lithuanian: jie (lt) m pl, jos (lt) f pl
• Livonian: nämād, ne
• Louisiana Creole French: yé
• Low German: sei (nds), se (nds)
• Lü: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: ти́е (tíe)
• Malay: mereka (ms)
• Maltese: huma (mt)
• Manchu: ᠴᡝ (ce)
• Manx: ad (gv), adsyn (emphatic)
• Maori: rāua du, rātou pl
• Mazanderani: وشون‎ (vešun)
• Mon: ညး တံ (ɲɛ̀h tɔʔ), ဍေံ တံ (ɗɛ̀h tɔʔ)
• Mongolian: тэд нар (ted nar)
• Mori Bawah: ira
• Motu: idia
• Mòcheno: sei
• Neapolitan: loro
• Ngarrindjeri: kar
• North Frisian: (Heilgolandic) djo, (Mooring) ja
• Northern Sami: ^{(please verify)} soai dual, ^{(please verify)} sii pl
• Norwegian: de (no)

  Nynorsk: dei (nn)

• Occitan: eles (oc), elas
• Ojibwe: wiinawaa
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: они (oni)

• Old East Slavic: они (oni), онѣ (oně) (females or non-animate)
• Old English: hīe pl
• Old Norse: þeir, þær, þau
• Oromo: isaan
• Ottoman Turkish: اولار‎ (olar)
• Pashto: هغوی‎ (hoǧúy) (absent or distant), دوی‎ (ps) (dūy) (visible or present)
• Persian: ایشان‎ (fa) (išân), آنها‎ (fa) (ânhâ), آنان‎ (fa) (ânân)
• Pipil: yejemet, yehemet
• Pitjantjatjara: (here) ngaa, (there) pala, (over there) nyara, (not visible) palunya
• Polish: oni (pl) m (animate), one (pl) m or f or n (nonanimate)
• Portuguese: eles (pt) m, elas (pt) f
• Quechua: paykuna (qu)
• Rapa Nui: raua
• Romani: on

  Kalo Finnish Romani: joon

  Vlax Romani: von

• Romanian: ei (ro) m, ele (ro) f, dumnealor m pl or f pl (formal, polite)
• Romansch: els m, ellas f
• Russian: они́ (ru) (oní)
• Rusyn: вни́ (vný)
• Saho: usun
• Scots: thay
• Scottish Gaelic: (nonemphatic) iad, (emphatic) iadsan
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: они m pl, оне f pl, она n pl

  Roman: oni m pl, one (sh) f pl, ona (sh) n pl

• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• Shor: ылар (ılar)
• Sicilian: iddi (scn), idde f
• Sidamo: insa
• Sinhalese: ඔවුහු (owuhu), ඔව්හු (owhu), ඔවුන් (owun), එයාලා (eyālā) (informal)
• Slovak: oni m pl, ony f pl or n pl
• Slovene: ôni (sl) m, ône (sl) f, ôna (sl) n
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wóni

• Southern Altai: олор (olor)
• Spanish: ellos (es) m, ellas (es) f, (neologism) elles (es) n
• Sranan Tongo: den
• Swahili: wao
• Swedish: de (sv), dom (sv)
• Sylheti: ꠔꠣꠁꠘ (tain), ꠔꠣꠞꠣ (tara)
• Tagalog: (ng form) nila, (sa form) kanila, (unmarked form) sila (tl)
• Tajik: эшон (tg) (ešon), онҳо (tg) (onho)
• Tamil: அவர் (ta) (avar), இவர் (ta) (ivar)
• Taos: ą́wąną
• Tatar: алар (alar)
• Telugu: వారు (te) (vāru), వాళ్ళు (vāḷḷu)
• Tetum: sira
• Thai: เขา (th) (kǎo), พวกเขา (pûuak-kǎo)
• Tibetan: ཁོང་ཚོ (khong tsho) (ordinary), ཁོ་རང་ཚོ (kho rang tsho) (familiar male), མོ་རང་ཚོ (mo rang tsho) (familiar female)
• Tigrinya: ንሳቶም m (nəsatom), ንሳተን f (nəsatän)
• Tlingit: hás
• Tok Pisin: ol (tpi)
• Turkish: onlar (tr)
• Turkmen: olar
• Ukrainian: вони́ (uk) (voný)
• Urdu: وہ‎ (ve, vah), یہ‎ (ye, yah)
• Uyghur: ئۇلار‎ (ular)
• Uzbek: ular (uz)
• Venetian: lori (vec) m pl, lore (vec) f pl, łore, łori, łuri
• Veps: hö
• Vietnamese: họ (vi)
• Volapük: (masculine) oms (vo), (feminine) ofs (vo), (neuter or mixed gender) ons (vo)
• Welsh: (literary) hwy, (literary) hwynt, (spoken) nhw
• West Frisian: hja (fy), sy (fy), se
• Wolof: ñoom (wo)
• Yiddish: זיי‎ (zey)
• Yoruba: (weak pronoun) wọ́n, (strong pronoun) àwọn
• Yucatec Maya: letiʼob
• Zealandic: ‘ulder, (unemphatic) ze
• Zhuang: dohde, vajde, hongminz, mbongmiz, gyoengqde
• Zulu: bona class 2 (usually for people), yona class 4, wona class 6, zona class 8, zona class 10
• ǃKung: si (people), hi (animals, things)
• ǃXóõ: ùh, (emphatic) ùhʻù

Description

They/them, also referred to as «singular they«, is a gender-neutral pronoun set and one of the four extant 3rd person pronoun sets found in contemporary English alongside he, she, and it. They are one of the two neutral 3rd person pronouns in the language (the other being it) and are considered the more respectful of the two, as it is most frequently used to describe objects, non-human animals, or babies of an unknown sex.

The idea that singular they is grammatically incorrect continues in some areas to the modern day, although it is almost never followed in speech; most individuals frequently use singular they when referring to an unknown person («someone left their coat here»).

Many individuals use singular they as their personal pronoun to avoid the gendered connotations of he and she, hence its frequently used among non-binary people.

Case	Pronoun	Example
Nominative	They	They went to the store
Accusative	Them	I met them today
Pronominal Possessive	Their	They walked their dog today
Predicative Possessive	Theirs	If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow theirs
Reflexive	Themself or Themselves	They have to drive themself to school OR They have to drive themselves to school

Origin

The Oxford English Dictionary traces singular they back to as early as 1375, and throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance it was used as a singular gender neutral pronoun, making it one of the oldest third person pronouns in the English language still in use today. It predates the transition of plural you into singular you in Early Middle English through the 15th to 17th centuries (1470-1600s).^[1]

However, in the 18th century prescriptive grammarians declared that they should only be used when referring to multiple people, and suggested using a «gender-neutral He» (similar to French) as an alternative. Reasons given at the time were that, firstly, Latin did not have a singular neutral pronoun, and as Latin was considered a superior language, it was thought that English should be more like Latin. Secondly, when plural pronouns are used, certain verbs change form, such as «he was» vs «they were». These verbs always change when they is used, even when in the singular, which was seen as an unacceptable inconsistency according to prescriptivists. These prescriptivists also attempted to erase singular subjective you and re-introduce 2nd person subjective thou for the same reason, though evidently their attempts at that were less successful.^[1]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} https://www.english-grammar-revolution.com/history-of-you.html

Nouns are people, places, or things. People, places and things can all either perform actions, or receive actions that are performed by someone else. In grammar, something that performs an action is called a subject, while something that receives an action is called an object.

Pronouns can replace nouns in sentences, which is useful when you want to avoid using the same word several times in the same sentence. Like nouns, pronouns can also be subjects or objects.

English has specific pronouns for each of these grammatical cases, like they and them. These pronouns mean almost exactly the same thing, but are not interchangeable since one is an object pronoun, and the other a subject pronoun.

What is the Difference Between They and Them?

In this post, I will compare they vs. them. I will show you example sentences for each of these words, so you can see them in context.

I will also use a memory tool that can also help you decide whether you need to use them or they in any given sentence.

When to Use They

Is they a pronoun? Yes, they is a pronoun. Specifically, it is a third-person plural subject pronoun. It refers to a group of two or more people.

They is nongendered; it can refer to any combination of more than two people.

For example,

• I tried to tell the Cleveland fans that their team would lose, but they wouldn’t listen.
• After you go on enough first dates with different people, they all start to blend together.
• At the same time, they talked up their own digital chops, as well as partnerships with and investments in digital companies. –The Wall Street Journal

As I mentioned above, pronouns replace nouns in sentences. They is a subject pronoun, so it replaces the subject of a sentence.

In the first example above, they replaces Cleveland fans in the second clause, where it functions as the subject of the verb phrase wouldn’t listen.

In the second example, they replaces people, which is the subject of the verb start.

When to Use Them

Is them a pronoun? Yes, them is also a pronoun, specifically a third person plural object pronoun. Like they, it refers to a group of more than two people. It is nongendered, as well.

Unlike they, however, them is an object pronoun. It replaces nouns that are the objects of sentences.

See the examples below,

• The British fought valiantly while arrows rained down on them from the French castle.
• Jennifer and Clara become annoyed when Angus tries to do their work for them.
• When we always yield to our children’s wants, we rob them of the opportunity to find solutions by adapting what they already have. –The New York Post

In the first example, them replaces the British as the object of the verb rained. In the second example, them replaces Jennifer and Clara as the object of the verb tries.

Trick to Remember the Difference

Them and they are both third person plural pronouns. Knowing which one to use is not always easy if you aren’t well practiced in English writing, but this mnemonic device will help you.

So, let’s go over a trick to remember them vs. they.

• Them is an object pronoun.
• They is a subject pronoun.

Them and him, another object pronoun, both end in the letter M. This shared letter can be your clue that them should be used as the object in sentences.

Summary

Is it they or them? You can use pronouns to replace nouns in sentences, making your writing less repetitive.

• They and them are third person plural pronouns.
• They is a subject pronoun.

Them is an object pronoun.

“They are a writer and wrote that book themself. Those ideas are theirs. I like both them and their ideas.”

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT YOU GO BY «THEY» PRONOUNS?

It means that if you refer to me using a pronoun instead of my name that you can use «they.» For example, if Dana goes by «they» pronouns, you could say «Dana went to the library» or «They went to the library.»

Often, people make assumptions about the gender of another person based on a person’s appearance or name. Then, they apply those assumptions to the pronouns and forms of address used to refer to a person.

Whether or not these assumptions are correct, the very act of making an assumption can send a potentially harmful message — that people have to look a certain way to demonstrate the gender that they are or are not.

If someone shares their pronouns with you, it’s meant to disrupt the culture of making assumptions, and to provide you with the information you need in order to refer to them appropriately.

Just as we generally have names we go by, we also tend to have pronouns that we want to be referred to by. The name or pronouns someone goes by do not necessarily indicate anything about the person’s gender or other identities. Names and pronouns tend to be publicly shared, because they are part of the language commonly used to refer to people. However, identities tend to be private (i.e. many people don’t proactively share their gender just as many people don’t proactively share their race, class, or sexuality with mere acquaintances)

Although the pronoun «they» tends to be thought of as gender neutral (and many people find pronouns to be an important affirmation of identity), a person who goes by «they» could actually be a man, a woman, both, neither, or something else entirely. Again, because people’s genders tend to be private, the sharing of pronouns should not be taken as an invitation to ask for potentially private information about someone’s gender.

A person who goes by “they” pronouns is generally referred to using “they” and associated pronouns (only in the third person), as in this example:

“They are a writer and wrote that book themself. Those ideas are theirs. I like both them and their ideas.”

Please note that although “they” pronouns here are singular and refer to an individual, the verbs are conjugated the same as with the plural “they” (e.g. “they are”). Also note that in this singular pronoun set many use “themself” rather than “themselves,” although both are typically acceptable.

The use of the singular «they» to refer to an individual has a long history in English literature, and has also recently been more explicitly included in modern dictionaries and styles guides both as appropriate when referring to an individual whose gender is unknown, but also for referring to an individual who wishes to be known by «they» pronouns.

Please note that some people go by multiple sets of pronouns or by certain sets of pronouns among only certain audiences (just as some people have different legal names from the primary names they go by, or special names they use in certain spaces, such as pen names or performer/artist names). If in doubt, ask.

You can also share your own pronouns by sharing a link to the pronoun you go by. Here are some of the more common ones:

• http://pronouns.org/she

• http://pronouns.org/he

• http://pronouns.org/they

• http://pronouns.org/ze

• http://pronouns.org/neopronouns

This website also provides much more explanation, examples, and information about pronouns and gender inclusive language. See the appropriate section for more:

WHAT ARE PERSONAL PRONOUNS AND WHY DO THEY MATTER?

HOW DO I USE PERSONAL PRONOUNS?

WHAT IF SOMEONE MAKES A MISTAKE AND MISPRONOUNS SOMEONE ELSE?

HOW DO I SHARE MY PERSONAL PRONOUNS?

HOW DO I ASK SOMEONE THEIR PERSONAL PRONOUNS?

HOW DO I USE GENDER INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE?

WHAT ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AND LINKS CAN HELP ME?

In English grammar, singular «they» is the use of the pronoun they, them, or their to refer to a singular noun or to certain indefinite pronouns (such as anybody or everyone). Also called epicene «they» and unisex «they.»

Though strict prescriptive grammarians regard the singular they as a grammatical error, it has been in widespread use for several centuries. Singular they appears in the writings of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Austen, Woolf, and many other major English authors.

In January 2016, the American Dialect Society chose the gender-neutral singular they as its Word of the Year: «They was recognized by the society for its emerging use as a pronoun to refer to a known person, often as a conscious choice by a person rejecting the traditional gender binary of he and she» (American Dialect Society press release, January 8, 2016).

Examples

• «When a person talks too much, they learn little.» (Duncan Hines, Lodging for a Night, 1938)
• «If anybody wants their admission fee back, they can get it at the door.» («Fiddler’s Dram.» Spooky South: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore, retold by S. E. Schlosser. Globe Pequot, 2004)
• «She admired the fullness of the dirty net curtains, opened every drawer and cupboard, and, when she found the Gideon’s Bible, said, ‘Somebody’s left their book behind.'» (Sue Townsend, Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction. Lily Broadway Productions, 2004)
• «She kept her head and kicked her shoes off, as everybody ought to do who falls into deep water in their clothes.» (C.S. Lewis, Voyage of the Dawn-Treader, 1952)
• «I know when I like a person directly I see them!» (Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out, 1915)
• «‘A person can’t help their birth,’ Rosalind replied with great liberality.» (William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, 1848)

Singular They and Agreement

«Examples of semantically singular they are given in [52]:

[52i] Nobody in their right mind would do a thing like that.

[52ii] Everyone has told me they think I made the right decision.

[53iii] We need a manager who is reasonably flexible in their approach.

[52iv] In that case the husband or the wife will have to give up their seat on the board.

Notice that this special interpretation of they doesn’t affect verb agreement: we have they think (3rd plural) in [ii], not *they thinks (3rd singular). Nonetheless, they can be interpreted as if it were 3rd person singular, with human denotation and unspecified gender.» (Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar. Cambridge University Press, 2005)

The Growing Acceptance of Singular They

«The general hesitancy of grammarians towards accepting singular they is not actually matched by many of their academic colleagues who have researched the usage and its distribution (e.g. Bodine 1075; Whitley 1978; Jochnowitz 1982; Abbot 1984; Wales 1984b). Nor indeed is it matched by the lay native speakers of standard English, who show an overwhelming preference for it in contemporary spoken English, non-formal written English and an ever-widening spread of non-formal written registers, from journalism to administration and academic writing. . . . Singular they, in fact, has been well established in informal usage for centuries; until prescriptive grammarians decreed it was grammatically ‘incorrect,’ and so outlawed it, effectively, from (public) written discourse. The OED and Jespersen (1914) reveal, for example, that right from the time of the introduction of the indefinite pronouns into the language in their present form in the Late Middle English period, the option involving they has been in common use.» (Katie Wales, Personal Pronouns in Present-Day English. Cambridge University Press, 1996)

‘The Only Sensible Solution’

«His or her is clumsy, especially upon repetition, and his is as inaccurate with respect to grammatical gender as they is to number. Invented alternatives never take hold. Singular they already exists; it has the advantage that most people already use it.

«If it is as old as Chaucer, what’s new? The Washington Post’s style editor, Bill Walsh, has called it ‘the only sensible solution’ to the gap in English’s pronouns, changing his newspaper’s style book in 2015. But it was also the rise in the use of they as a pronoun for someone who does not want to use he or she. Facebook began already in 2014 allowing people to choose they as their preferred pronoun (‘Wish them a happy birthday!’).

Transgender stories, from The Danish Girl, a hit movie, to Caitlyn Jenner, an Olympic athlete who has become the world’s most famous trans woman, were big in 2015. But such people prefer their post-transition pronouns: he or she as desired. They is for those who prefer neither. Some non-binary people are transgender, but not all non-binary people identify as trans. But the very idea of ‘non-binary’ language with regard to gender annoys and even angers many people.

«Who knew a thousand-year-old pronoun could be so controversial?» (Prospero, «Why 2015’s Word of the Year Is Rather Singular.» The Economist, January 15, 2016).

Origin of the Concept of the Gender-Neutral Masculine Pronoun

«[I]t was [Ann] Fisher [author of A New Grammar, 1745] who promoted the convention of using he, him and his as pronouns to cover general statements irrespective of gender, such as ‘Everyone has his quirks.’ To be precise, she says that ‘The Masculine Person answers to the general Name…as, Any person who knows what he says.’ This idea caught on…The convention was bolstered by an Act of Parliament in 1850: In order to simplify the language used in other Acts, it was decreed that the masculine pronoun be understood to include all. The obvious objection to this—obvious now, even if it was not obvious then—is that it makes [all who are not men] politically invisible.» (Henry Hitchings, The Language Wars: A History of Proper English. Macmillan, 2011)