pronoms

Pronoms are a class of words that substitute for nouns or noun phrases. They help refer to people, objects, or ideas without repeating a noun. As a grammatical device, pronoms encode information about the role of the referent in the sentence and, in many languages, about person, number, gender, and case. Pronoms are typically a closed class with limited productive formation compared with nouns, adjectives, or verbs.

Common categories include personal pronoms (subject and object forms like I/me, you, he/him, she/her, they/them), possessive pronoms (my/mine, your/yours, his, her/hers, its, their/theirs), demonstrative pronoms (this, that, these, those), reflexive pronoms (myself, yourself, themselves), relative pronoms (who, which, that), interrogative pronoms (who, what, where), and indefinite pronoms (someone, anything). Some languages also use reciprocal pronoms (each other). The exact set and morphological patterns vary widely across language families; many languages mark pronoms for case, gender, and number, and some integrate them with verbs or omit them entirely when the verb encodes the subject (pro-drop).

In English, pronoms show case with distinct subject and object forms; possessive forms can function as determiners or independent pronouns. In other languages, pronoms may be less independent or may require agreement with nouns or verbs. Pronoms participate in sentence structure and can reflect formality or social relations through specialized forms or honorifics.

Pronoms also intersect with sociolinguistics, where pronoun choice can reflect gender identity and inclusion. Many languages are expanding their pronoun systems to include gender-neutral options and more inclusive usage.