Pronouns (Pronouns) – masters of camouflage and substitution

Pronouns are words that we use instead of nouns to avoid sounding like robots. Instead of saying: „Marek bought a car. Marek’s car is fast. Marek likes the car”, we simply say: „Marek bought a car. His car is fast. He likes it”. Although they seem inconspicuous, a small mistake in a pronoun can completely change the meaning of a sentence!

Part 1: For beginners (Fundamentals)

At the basic level, you need to master the difference between who performs the action, whom the action concerns, and to whom the given object belongs.

1. Subject and Object Pronouns (Subject vs. Object Pronouns)

This is the most common place for mistakes! You need to know which column to use from the table above:

• Subject pronouns (I, he, she, they…): We use them when the person is the doer of the action. They usually stand at the beginning of the sentence, before the verb.
  I love her. (Ja ją kocham).
• Object pronouns (me, him, her, them…): We use them when the person is the receiver of the action (they answer the questions: whom? to whom?). They stand after the verb.
  She loves me. (Ona kocha mnie).
  Give it to him. (Daj to jemu).

2. Possessive adjectives vs. possessive pronouns

In Polish, we simply say „to jest moje” and „to jest moja książka”. In English, these are two completely different words!

• Possessive adjective (my, your, his…): It always must have a noun after it. It acts like a label attached to the object.
  This is my book. (This is my book). It would be a mistake to say „Give me me book”!
• Possessive pronoun (mine, yours, his…): It occurs independently. It completely replaces the noun to avoid repetition. It often ends up at the very end of the sentence.
  This book is mine. (This book is mine).
  Your car is fast, but mine is faster. (Your car is fast, but mine [car] is faster).

Part 2: For advanced learners (Nuances and contexts)

When you think that pronouns have no more secrets for you, issues of reflexivity (doing something to oneself) and gender neutrality arise.

1. Reflexive Pronouns (Reflexive Pronouns: -self / -selves)

We use them when the subject and the object are the same person (someone does something to themselves). Remember that in the plural form, the ending -self changes to -selves (e.g. yourself -> yourselves).

• I cut myself while cooking. (I cut myself while cooking).
• We enjoyed ourselves at the party. (We had a good time ourselves at the party).

Watch out for Polish calques! In Polish, we add „się” to many routine actions. In English, we do not use reflexive pronouns after such words as: wash (to wash oneself), dress (to dress oneself), shave (to shave oneself), feel (to feel oneself).
I feel good. (I feel good). ERROR: I feel myself good.

2. Catch the difference: Themselves vs Each other

This is a very classic mistake that completely changes the visualization of the situation!

3. Singular „They” (Singular They)

Which pronoun to use when we talk about a person whose gender we do not know or when gender does not matter (e.g., we say „Someone left their umbrella”)? In the past, the construction „his or her” was used, which was very inconvenient. Today, it is commonly and fully correctly used in such situations the pronoun they/them/their in reference to the singular!

• Someone forgot their umbrella. (Someone forgot their umbrella).
• If a customer calls, tell them to wait. (If a customer calls, tell him/her to wait).