He

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the English personal pronoun. For other uses, see He (disambiguation).
Look up he in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Look up him in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Look up his in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

He (IPA: /hiː/) is a third-person, singular personal pronoun (subject case) in Modern English.

Personal pronouns in standard Modern English
Singular Plural
Subject Object Reflexive Subject Object Reflexive
First I me myself we us ourselves
Second you you yourself you you yourselves
Third Masculine he him himself they them themselves
Feminine she her herself
Neuter it it itself

Contents

[edit] Usage

[edit] People

He can be used as a substitution of a male's name.

[edit] Animals

Grammatically, it is most often incorrect to use the pronouns "he" or "she" when referring to animals, with the neuter "it" being more correct. However, they are both often used colloquially to refer to animals of the appropriate gender.

[edit] Generic

There was rather an extended period of time in the history of the English language when the choice of a supposedly masculine personal pronoun (him) said nothing about the gender or sex of the referent.[1]

[edit] Other

The pronoun He, with a universally capitalized H is often used to refer to God.

[edit] Gender

Main article: Gender in English

The gender system in Modern English is generally natural, semantic and logical, however it is most similar to languages whose gender systems primarily distinguish between the animate and inanimate, and between the personal and impersonal.[2] In the table RP stands for relative pronoun and PP for personal pronoun.

Gender classes in Modern English
Gender Class Example RP PP
animate personal 1. male brother who he
2. female sister who she
3. dual doctor who he/she
generic 4. common baby who
which		 he/she/it
it
5. collective family which
who		 it
they
impersonal 6. higher male animal bull which
(who)		 he/it
he
7. higher female animal cow which
(who)		 she/it
she
8. lower animal ant which it(he/she)
inanimate 9. inanimate box which it

Notes: RP is relative pronoun and PP personal pronoun. Alternatives are presented in three ways:
slash (/) — used equally; above & below — first preferred; parentheses "()" — unusual usage.


[edit] Etymology

[edit] Indo-European

The reconstructed Indo-European language provides a demonstrative pronoun ko.[3]

[edit] Germanic

English is a development of the West Germanic language family.

[edit] Old English

Personal pronouns in Old English
Nominative Accusative Dative Genitive
1st Singular ic me(c) me min
Dual wit unc uncer
Plural we us ure
2nd Singular þu þe þin
Dual git inc incer
Plural ge eow eower
3rd Singular Masculine he hine him his
Neuter hit hit him his
Feminine heo hie hire hire
Plural hie hie him hira
Nominative Accusative Dative Genitive

Speakers of Old English (OE) considered each noun to have a grammatical gender — masculine, feminine or neuter.[4] Pronouns were generally (but not always)[5] selected to have the same grammatical gender as the noun they referred to. For example, dæg (IPA: [dæj], day) was masculine, so a masculine pronoun was used when referring to a day or days. The personal pronoun for a singular masculine subject was written he, just like Present-Day English (PrDE). However, OE he was probably pronounced like PrDE hay (IPA: [he:]). The vowel in hay is normally longer in duration than in the exlamation Hey! (IPA: [he]). Because the vowel sound of OE he was long in duration, scholars (and OE dictionaries) now write it as hē.

[edit] Middle English

Personal pronouns in Middle English
Singular Plural
Subject Object Possessive Subject Object Possessive
First I me mi(n) we us ure
Second thou thee thy ye you your
Third Impersonal hit it/him his he
they		 hem
them		 hir
their
Masculine he him his
Feminine sche hire hir

There was one change to the inflection of the masculine pronoun in Middle English. The OE dative form him replaced the OE accusative hine (IPA: [hine]). This meant that, in Middle English, there was no distinction between masculine and impersonal, except in the subject case of the third-person singular, until it from hit replaced him in the object case of the impersonal. So, "there was rather an extended period of time in the history of the English language when the choice of a supposedly masculine personal pronoun (him) said nothing about the gender or sex of the referent."[6]

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Modern English personal pronouns
I · he · she · it · one · we · you · they
v • d • e
English gender-neutral pronouns
He • She • It • One • Singular they
neologisms: Spivak, sie/hir, thon, ve, xe, ze, …

[edit] References

  1. ^ Susanne Wagner, Gender in English Pronouns: Myth and Reality, PhD thesis, Albert Ludwigs Universität, 2003. Page 41.
  2. ^ Randolf Sidney Quirk, Geoffrey Greenbaum and Ian Svartvik, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, (London: Longman, 1985), p. 314.
  3. ^ 'Ko', The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth edition, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000).
  4. ^ Peter S Baker, Introduction to Old English, (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003).
  5. ^ Greville Corbett, Gender, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
  6. ^ Susanne Wagner (2004-07-22). "Gender in English pronouns: Myth and reality" (PDF). . Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

[edit] External links