# They > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/They > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/They.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They > Source revision: 1353787323 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Third-person plural or gender-neutral pronoun}} {{Italic title}} {{About|the English personal pronoun|4=other uses|5=They (disambiguation)}} {{Redirect-distinguish|Theirs|Thiers (disambiguation){{!}}Thiers}} {{Use DMY dates|date=November 2023}} {{Wiktionary|they|them|their|theirs|themselves|themself}} In [Modern English](/source/Modern_English), '''''they''''' is a [third-person](/source/Grammatical_person) [pronoun](/source/personal_pronoun) relating to a [grammatical subject](/source/Subject_(grammar)). == Morphology == In [Standard](/source/Standard_English) Modern English, ''they'' has five distinct word [forms](/source/Morphology_(linguistics)):{{Cite book |last1=Huddleston |first1=Rodney |last2=Pullum |author1-link=Rodney Huddleston |first2=Geoffrey K. |author2-link=Geoffrey K. Pullum |date=2002 |title=[The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language](/source/The_Cambridge_Grammar_of_the_English_Language) |publisher=[Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press)}} * ''they'': the [nominative](/source/Nominative_case) (subjective) form * ''them'': the [accusative](/source/Accusative_case) (objective, called the '[oblique](/source/Oblique_case)'.{{Cite book |editor-last=Lass |editor-first=Roger |author-link=Roger Lass |date=1999 |title=The Cambridge History of the English Language |title-link=The Cambridge History of the English Language |volume=III: ''1476–1776'' |publisher=[Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press)}}{{Rp|146}}) and a non-standard [determinative](/source/English_determiners) form. * ''their:'' the dependent [genitive](/source/Genitive_case) (possessive) form * ''theirs'': independent [genitive](/source/Genitive_case) form * ''themselves'': prototypical [reflexive](/source/Reflexive_pronoun) form * ''themself'': derivative [reflexive](/source/Reflexive_pronoun) form (nonstandard; now chiefly used instead of "himself or herself" as a reflexive [epicenity](/source/epicenity) for ''they'' in pronominal reference to a singular [referent](/source/referent)){{Cite web |title=themself: pronoun |work=Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/themself |publisher=[Merriam-Webster](/source/Merriam-Webster) |date=2021 |access-date=26 November 2023}} ==History== {{Further|Proto-Germanic pronouns|Proto-Indo-European pronouns}} [Old English](/source/Old_English) had a single third-person pronoun {{lang|ang|[hē](/source/He_(pronoun))}}, 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/Scandinavia) source ([Old Norse](/source/Old_Norse) {{lang|non|þeir}}, [Old Danish](/source/History_of_Danish), [Old Swedish](/source/Old_Swedish) {{lang|non|þer}}, {{lang|non|þair}}), in which it was a [masculine](/source/Grammatical_gender) [plural](/source/plural) [demonstrative](/source/demonstrative) pronoun. It comes from [Proto-Germanic](/source/Proto-Germanic_language) *''thai'', nominative plural pronoun, from [PIE](/source/Proto-Indo-European_language) *''to''-, demonstrative pronoun.{{Cite web |last=Harper |first=Douglas |date=2017 |title=Origin and meaning of they: they (pron.) |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/they |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=20 March 2021}} According to ''[The Cambridge History of the English Language](/source/The_Cambridge_History_of_the_English_Language)'':{{Cite book |editor-last=Blake |editor-first=Norman |editor-link=Norman Blake (academic) |date=1992 |title=The Cambridge History of the English Language |title-link=The Cambridge History of the English Language |volume=II: ''1066–1476'' |publisher=[Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press) |page=176 |ref=Blake (1992)}} {{Blockquote|1=By [Chaucer](/source/Geoffrey_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 ({{lang|enm|hem}}, {{lang|enm|here}} < [OE](/source/Old_English) {{lang|ang|heom}}, {{lang|ang|heora}}). At the same period (and indeed before), [Scots](/source/Scots_language) texts, such as Barbour's Bruce, have the ''th''- form in all cases.}} The development in [Middle English](/source/Middle_English) is shown in the following table. At the final stage, it had reached its modern form. {| class="wikitable" |+Three stages of ''they'' in Middle EnglishBlake (1992), p. 121 ! !I !II !III |- ! Nominative |{{lang|enm|þei}} |{{lang|enm|þei}} |{{lang|enm|þei}} |- ! Oblique |{{lang|enm|hem}} |{{lang|enm|hem}} |{{lang|enm|hem}} ~ {{lang|enm|þem}} |- ! Genitive |{{lang|enm|her[e]}} |{{lang|enm|her[e]}} ~ {{lang|enm|þeir}} |{{lang|enm|þeir}} |} ==Singular ''they''== {{Main|Singular they}} [Singular ''they''](/source/Singular_they) is a use of ''they'' as an [epicene](/source/Epicenity) (gender-neutral) pronoun for a singular [referent](/source/referent).{{cite journal |last=Bjorkman |first=B. |date=2017 |title=Singular They and the Syntactic Representation of Gender in English |journal=Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics |volume=2 |page=80 |doi=10.5334/gjgl.374 |doi-access=free}}{{cite web |title='He or She' Versus 'They' |url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/he-or-she-versus-they |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111215021401/http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/he-or-she-versus-they |archive-date=15 December 2011 |work=OxfordDictionaries.com |date=15 December 2011 |publisher=[Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press) |access-date=26 November 2023}} In this usage, ''they'' follows plural agreement rules (''they are'', not *''they is''), but the [semantic](/source/Semantics) [reference](/source/reference) is singular. Unlike plural ''they'', singular ''they'' is only used for [people](/source/Person). For this reason, it could be considered to have personal [gender](/source/Grammatical_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.{{Cite web |first1=Alex |last1=Hanna |first2=Nikki L. |last2=Stevens |first3=Os |last3=Keyes |first4=Maliha |last4=Ahmed |date=3 May 2019 |title=Actually, We Should ''Not'' All Use They/Them Pronouns |url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/actually-we-should-not-all-use-they-them-pronouns/ |department=''Voices'' (blog) |work=[ScientificAmerican.com](/source/Scientific_American) |access-date=26 November 2023}}{{Cite news |last=Murphy |first=Jessica |date=4 November 2016 |title=Toronto Professor Jordan Peterson Takes on Gender-Neutral Pronouns |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37875695 |publisher=[BBC News](/source/BBC_News) |access-date=26 November 2023}}{{Cite magazine |last=McBride |first=Jason |date=25 January 2017 |title=The Pronoun Warrior |url=https://torontolife.com/city/u-t-professor-sparked-vicious-battle-gender-neutral-pronouns/ |magazine=[Toronto Life](/source/Toronto_Life) |access-date=26 November 2023}} However, the online edition of the ''[Oxford English Dictionary](/source/Oxford_English_Dictionary)'' records usage of ''they'' "referring to an individual generically or indefinitely", with examples dating from ''a''1405–2019.{{cite web |title=they: pronoun |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/they_pron?tab=meaning_and_use&tl=true#1288185420 |at=I.2.b. |date=2013 |work=[Oxford English Dictionary](/source/Oxford_English_Dictionary) |edition=online |publisher=[Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press) |access-date=26 November 2023}} ===Word of the year=== In December 2019, [Merriam-Webster](/source/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."{{Cite magazine |last=Locker |first=Melissa |date=10 December 2019 |title=Merriam Webster Names 'They' As Its Word of the Year for 2019 |url=https://time.com/5746516/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2019/ |magazine=[Time](/source/Time_(magazine)) |access-date=10 December 2019}} == Syntax == === Functions === ''They'' can appear as a [subject](/source/Subject_(grammar)), [object](/source/Object_(grammar)), [determiner](/source/determiner) or [predicative complement](/source/Complement_(linguistics)). The reflexive form also appears as an [adjunct](/source/Adjunct_(grammar)). * Subject: "''They''{{'}}re there"; "''them'' being there"; "''their'' being 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](/source/determiner): "I touched ''their'' car"; "''them'' folks are helpful" (non-standard). * Independent determiner: "This is ''theirs''." * Adjunct: "They did it ''themselves''." === Dependents === Pronouns rarely take [dependents](/source/Phrase_structure_grammar), but it is possible for ''they'' to have many of the same kind of dependents as other [noun phrase](/source/noun_phrase)s. * [Relative clause](/source/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](/source/Adjective_phrase) modifier: "the ''real'' them". * [Adverb phrase](/source/Adverbial_phrase) external modifier: "''not even'' them". == Semantics == Plural ''they''{{'}}s [referent](/source/referent)s can be anything, including persons, as long as it does not include the speaker (which would require ''[we](/source/we)'') or the addressee(s) (which would require ''[you](/source/you)''). Singular ''they'' can only refer to individual persons. Until the end of the 20th century, this was limited to those whose [gender](/source/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.").{{Cite thesis |last=Lagunoff |first=Rachel |date=1997 |title=Singular They |type=PhD |publisher=University of California, Los Angeles |oclc=39259660}} ===Generic=== The pronoun ''they'' can also be used to refer to an unspecified group of people{{Cite Cambridge Dictionaries |they |access-date=2025-08-25}}, as in "In Japan ''they'' drive on the left", or "''They'' are putting in a new restaurant across the street." 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." ==See also== * [English personal pronouns](/source/English_personal_pronouns) * {{Section link|Non-binary#Pronouns and titles}} * [Generic antecedents](/source/Generic_antecedents) * [Object pronoun](/source/Object_pronoun) * [Possessive pronoun](/source/Possessive_pronoun) * [Spivak pronoun](/source/Spivak_pronoun) * [Subject pronoun](/source/Subject_pronoun) ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Modern English personal pronouns}} --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [They](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.