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English
rank|all|him|she|33|they|my|were|are
Etymology
From ON. þeir, nominative plural masculine of the demonstrative ( = Old English þa|þÄ), which acted in Old Norse as a plural pronoun. Compare Swedish/Danish/Norwegian de
‘they’. Ultimately from PG. *thai ‘those’, from PIE. base *to- ‘that’.
Pronunciation
enPR|thÄ, IPA|/ðeɪ/, SAMPA|/DeI?/
audio|en-us-they.ogg|Audio (US)
Pronoun
wikipedia
en-pron|desc=personal pronoun; the third person, nominative case, usually plural, but sometimes used in the singular when the gender is unknown or irrelevant|objective case|them|possessive|their|possessive noun|theirs|reflexive
plural|themselves|reflexive singular|themself
-
context|the third person plural A group of others previously mentioned.
#: Fred and Jane? They just arrived.
-
context|the third person singular|disputed A single person, previously mentioned, but of unknown or irrelevant gender.
#: Have you ever seen someone while they are on their deathbed?
-
context|indefinite pronoun, vague meaning People; some people; someone.
#: They say it’s a good place to live.
#: They didn’t have computers in the old days.
#: They should do something about this.
Usage notes
For centuries, they has used with a singular antecedent; however, many condemn this usage for its violation of traditional agreement rules. Writers should only use this construction if they are sure it will be viewed as an intentional choice, rather than an error. See w:Singular_they|singular they for a more in-depth
discussion.
When the sex of the person referred to is known or clear, as there is no need to use they, it is preferable to use gender-specific pronouns instead. For example:
:: The doctor's advice to a pregnant woman is that they should take folic acid during their pregnancy.
Another indefinite pronoun is one, but the two words do not mean the same and are rarely interchangeable.
Translations
trans-top|third-person plural pronoun
Albanian: ata, ato
Ancient Egyptian: *sÃn
Arabic:
ARchar|هما|Ù‡Ùمَا IPAchar|(húmaË) dual,
ARchar|‎‎هم|Ù‡ÙÙ…Ù/‎‎هم|Ù‡Ùمْ (hum/húmu) p,
ARchar|‎‎هن|Ù‡Ùنّ (húnna) f
Armenian:
Õ¶Ö€Õ¡Õ¶Ö„ (nrank)
Basque: haiek
Bulgarian: те (te)
Catalan: ells, elles
Chinese:
:: Teochew: ing1, i1nang5
Croatian: oni
Czech: oni, ony
Dutch: zij, ze
Dyirbal: (no third-person
pronoun)
Esperanto: ili, tiuj
Estonian: nemad, nad
Ewe: wo
Finnish: he#Finnish|he (of people), ne#Finnish|ne (of things and
animals)
Fijian: rau (dual), iratou (paucal), ira (pl)
French: ils m, elles f
Georgian:
ისინი (isini)
German: sie
Greek: αυτοί m
(aftÃ), αυτÎÏ‚ f (aftés), αυτά n
(aftá)
Hausa: súu (independent form)
Hawaiian: laua|lÄua dual, lakou|lÄkou p
Hebrew:
×”× (hÄ“m) m, הן (hÄ“n) f
Hungarian: Å‘k
Icelandic: Þeir, þær,
þau
Ido: li, ili m, eli f, oli (things)
trans-mid
Indonesian: mereka
Interlingua: illes
m, illas f, illos n
Irish: siad (conjunctive), iad (disjunctive), siadsan, iadsan (emphatic)
Italian: essi, loro
Japanese:
彼ら / å½¼ç‰ (ã‹ã‚Œã‚‰, karéra) (of people) ãれら (sorera) (of
things)
Korean: 그들 (geudeul)
Lakota: epi, iyepi
Latin: ei m, eae
f
Macedonian: тие (tie)
Maltese: huma
Manx: ad; emphatic adsyn
Northern
Sami: soai dual, sii p
Novial: les m|f or n, los m, las f, lus n
Ojibwe: wiinawaa
Polish: oni m (animate), one m (nonanimate), f &
n
Portuguese: eles m, elas f
Quechua: paykuna
Romanian: ei m, ele f
Russian:
они (onÃ)
Scottish Gaelic: iad nonemphatic, iadsan emphatic
Sicilian: iddi; idde
f
Slovene: one f, oni m or both
Spanish: ellos m, ellas f
Swahili: wao
Swedish: de#Swedish|de,
dom#Swedish|dom
Tagalog: nila (ng form), kanila (sa form), sila (unmarked form)
Telugu:
వారౠ(vaaru),
వాళà±à°³à± (vaaLLu)
Thai:
THchar|พวà¸à¹€à¸‚า (phuà à k kháo)
Tok Pisin: ol
Vietnamese: há»
!XÅ©: si#!XÅ©|si (people), hi#!XÅ©|hi (animals, things)
Yoruba: wá»Ìn (weak pronoun), à wá»n (strong pronoun)
trans-bottom
trans-top|third-person singular, of unknown or irrelevant gender
Cree: wiya
Esperanto: oni
Finnish: hän
Fijian:
koya
French: on#French|on
German: man#German|man
GuaranÃ: ahẽ
Hawaiian:
ia
Hungarian: Å‘
Indonesian: dia#Indonesian|dia, ia
Interlingua: uno, on#Interlingua|on
Kurdish:
ew
Lakota: ish, iye
Maltese: huma
Ojibwe: wiin
trans-mid
Novial:
les
Persian: FAchar|او#Persian|او (u)
Portuguese: se
Quechua:
pay#Quechua|pay
Spanish: se
Swahili: yeye
Tagalog: niya (ng form), kaniya (sa form), siya (unmarked form)
Thai:
THchar|เขา (kháo)
Tupinambá: a'e
Turkish:
o#Turkish|o
Vietnamese: há»
!XÅ©: ha#!XÅ©|ha
Yoruba: ó,
á
trans-bottom
trans-top|one, people, some people
Dutch: ze
Ewe: wo
French: on#French|on
German:
man#German|man
trans-mid
Italian: si#Italian|si
Novial: on#Novial|on
Portuguese:
se#Portuguese|se
Spanish: se#Spanish|se
Swedish: de#Swedish|de, dom#Swedish|dom
trans-bottom
Category:100 English basic words
Category:English third person pronouns
de:they
et:they
es:they
fa:they
fr:they
ko:they
io:they
it:they
kk:they
la:they
hu:they
ja:they
pl:they
pt:they
ru:they
simple:they
fi:they
sv:they
ta:they
te:they
vi:they
tr:they
uk:they
zh:they
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