Pronouns
Old English Grammar 1
Chapter 7 · Pronouns
🧍 Pronouns
Pronouns kept more of the old case system than any other word class, which is why Modern English still has I / me and he / him. This chapter covers the personal pronouns (including a number Modern English has lost, the dual) and the question words hwā "who" and hwæt "what". Notes come from the Pronouns section of Wikipedia's Old English grammar article. Its table was flattened, so the first- and second-person tables are from the pronoun table on English Wiktionary (the ic, git, ge and heo entries); the third person is partly reconstructed and flagged below.
First and second person
| Person and number | Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st singular "I" | iċ | mē, mec | mē | mīn |
| 2nd singular "you" | þū | þē, þec | þē | þīn |
| 1st dual "we two" | wit | unc, uncit | unc | uncer |
| 2nd dual "you two" | ġit | inc, incit | inc | incer |
| 1st plural "we" | wē | ūs, ūsiċ | ūs | ūre, ūser |
| 2nd plural "you" | ġē | ēow, ēowiċ | ēow | ēower |
- The dual is for "we both" and "you two". The article says dual forms are common, but ordinary plurals can be used when the meaning is clear.
- Accusative and dative merge. The article says most texts merge the accusative and dative in the first and second person (so mē serves for both), while Anglian dialects and poetry sometimes keep them apart, with mec and þec as examples.
- Extended forms. For the dual and plural, new accusatives were made by adding -iċ or -it to the dative: ūsiċ, ēowiċ, uncit, incit.
- Singular "you" and plural "you". The singular þū and the plural ġē are different words. (That the singular is the ancestor of "thou" is my own knowledge, not stated in the text I read.)
Third person
These nominative forms are certain: hē "he", hit "it", hēo "she" and hīe "they". The article's flattened table also prints the other forms hine, his, him, hire, heora, and the Wiktionary entries for hēo and the pronoun table give the feminine as nominative hēo, accusative hīe, genitive and dative hire. But neither source gave a layout of the masculine, neuter and plural cells that I could trust: in one extraction, for example, him and his landed in the wrong columns. So the table below is a reconstruction. The masculine, neuter and plural cells follow the usual pattern from my own background knowledge, and are unverified here:
| Case | Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | hē | hit | hēo | hīe |
| Accusative | hine | hit | hīe | hīe (unverified) |
| Genitive | his | his (unverified) | hire | heora |
| Dative | him (unverified) | him (unverified) | hire | him |
Pronouns that became Modern English words
| Old English | Modern English | Source |
|---|---|---|
| mīn (genitive) | my | Article |
| ūre (genitive) | our | Article |
| ēower (genitive) | your | Article |
| Old English third-person plural forms | replaced in stressed positions in Middle English by Old Norse forms giving "they", "them", "their"; the Old English dative survives as unstressed "'em" | Article |
Question words: hwā and hwæt
| Case | hwā "who" | hwæt "what" |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | hwā | hwæt |
| Accusative | hwone | not shown in the article |
| Genitive | hwæs | same as "who" |
| Dative | hwām | same as "who" |
| Instrumental | hwon, hwȳ | same as "who" |
- hwā refers to people and hwæt to things, following social, not grammatical, gender. The two differ only in the nominative and accusative.
- hwelċ "which, what kind of" is inflected like an adjective.
- hwæðer means "which" but only when choosing between two. The article's example: Hwæðer wēnst þū is māre, þē þīn sweord þē mīn? "Which one do you think is bigger, your sword or mine?"
📋 Quick Reference
| Meaning | Nominative | Genitive |
|---|---|---|
| I / we two / we | iċ / wit / wē | mīn / uncer / ūre |
| you / you two / you all | þū / ġit / ġē | þīn / incer / ēower |
| he / it / she / they | hē / hit / hēo / hīe | his / (see caveat) / hire / heora |
| who / what | hwā / hwæt | hwæs |
✏️ Try It Yourself
Say the answer first, then click to check.
1. How would you say "we two" and "you two"?
Show answer
wit and ġit (the dual).
2. Which Old English word is the genitive of "I", and which Modern English word does it become?
Show answer
mīn; "my" (the article lists it).
3. The accusative and dative of "me" are the same in most texts. What does the article say about the exceptions?
Show answer
Most texts merge them (mē), but some, especially Anglian and poetic texts, keep them distinct, with mec and þec as the article's examples.
4. How were ūsiċ and uncit formed?
Show answer
By adding -iċ or -it to dative forms (ūs, unc).
5. Name the four nominative third-person pronouns and their meanings.
Show answer
hē he, hit it, hēo she, hīe they.
6. Where do "they", "them" and "their" come from, according to the article?
Show answer
Old Norse forms replaced the Old English third-person plural in stressed positions in Middle English; the Old English dative survives as unstressed "'em".
7. What is the difference between hwā and hwæt, and in which cases do they differ?
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hwā is for people and hwæt for things; they differ only in the nominative and accusative and are identical elsewhere.
8. When would you use hwæðer instead of hwelċ?
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hwæðer means "which" when there are only two alternatives (the sword example); hwelċ means "which, what kind of" and is declined like an adjective.
9. Is there a gender difference in iċ and þū?
Show answer
No: the article says the first- and second-person pronouns are the same for all genders.
10. Why does this chapter mark some third-person forms "unverified"?
Show answer
Both sources I used printed the third-person table in a flattened form, so the cell positions of some forms could not be read reliably; the marked cells are my own reconstruction from the usual pattern.