What is a pronoun?
A pronoun is a word you use instead of a noun, when you do not need or want to name someone or something directly, for example, it, you, none.
- There are several different types of pronoun:
- Personal pronouns such as I, you, he, her and they, which are used to refer to yourself, the person you are talking to, or other people and things. They can be either subject pronouns (I, you, he and so on) or object pronouns (him, her, them and so on).
- Possessive pronouns like mine and yours, which show who someone or something belongs to.
- Indefinite pronouns like someone or nothing, which refer to people or things in a general way without saying exactly who or what they are.
- Relative pronouns like who, which or that, which link two parts of a sentence together.
- Demonstrative pronouns like this or those, which point things or people out.
- Reflexive pronouns, a type of object pronoun that forms part of French reflexive verbs like se laver (meaning to wash) or s’appeler (meaning to be called).
- The two French pronouns, en and y, which are used in certain constructions.
- The pronouns qui? (meaning who?, whom?), que? (meaning what?), quoi? (meaning what?) and lequel? (meaning which one?), which are used in asking questions.
- Pronouns often stand in for a noun to save repeating it.
- I finished my homework and gave it to my teacher.
- Do you remember Jack? I saw him at the weekend.
- Word order with personal pronouns is usually different in French and English.