Studying any topic starts with its basics. The same goes for English pronouns. Yes, you can immediately throw yourself into the pool headlong, studying all the intricacies of this topic. However, if you do not know how this or that pronoun is translated or pronounced, immediately combining the word with other members and making sentences with them will be at least difficult, and at most impossible. Therefore, if you are just beginning your acquaintance with this topic, let's look at English pronouns with translation and pronunciation in order to avoid problems in their further development.

English pronoun types

To begin with, it is worth noting that pronouns in English are divided into 9 types:

1. Personal Pronouns or Personal Pronouns
2. Possessive Pronouns or Possessive pronouns
3. Reflexive Pronouns or Reflexive Pronouns
4. Reciprocal Pronouns or Reciprocal Pronouns
5. Interrogative Pronouns or Interrogative Pronouns
6. Relative and Conjunctive Pronouns or Relative and Conjunctive Pronouns
7. Demonstrative Pronouns or Demonstrative Pronouns
8. Quantitative pronouns or Quantitative pronouns
9. Indefinite Pronouns and Negative Pronouns or Indefinite Pronouns and Negative Pronouns

Each type has a limited number of words that you need to remember to express your thoughts. These words, as a rule, consist of a small number of letters and do not contain sounds, the pronunciation of which can cause difficulties for initial stage. Let's look at each type in more detail and study the pronouns of the English language with transcription and translation.

English pronouns with translation and pronunciation: meaning and transcription

1. The main place among English pronouns is occupied by Personal Pronouns. This is the only group in which English allows case declension. Table for clarity:

1. The second most important is the Possessive Pronouns group or the group of possessive pronouns. It also has two forms: attached and absolute. They both answer the same question (“whose?”), but differ in that the first requires a noun after itself, and the second does not. Let's compare:

As you can see, these forms have something in common, but they are written and pronounced differently. Let's consider full list possessive pronouns:

1. Reflexive Pronouns or reflexive pronouns are a group of pronouns that are translated into Russian to mean “oneself” and “oneself” depending on the situation:

The second part of these pronouns may remind you of the famous word “selfie”, which actually comes from the word “self”. The first parts repeat the pronouns of the two above-mentioned groups.

1. Reciprocal Pronouns or reciprocal pronouns in English are the group that will probably take the least time to memorize. It consists of two words with the same meaning:

1. The group of Interrogative Pronouns or the group of interrogative pronouns is more extensive. These pronouns, as the name suggests, are used to form questions:

1. Relative and Conjunctive Pronouns or relative and connecting pronouns are used in complex sentences. There are not many of them, but you need to know these words:

Some words in this group and the group of interrogative pronouns are similar, but their functions and meanings are different.

1. Demonstrative Pronouns or demonstrative pronouns in English are also often found in speech. Some of them have singular and plural forms:

1. There are pronouns in English that denote quantity. They are called Quantitative pronouns or quantitative pronouns. These include:

1. The most extensive group can rightfully be considered Indefinite Pronouns and Negative Pronouns or indefinite and negative pronouns. Most of them are formed by a combination of pronouns, which independently also perform the functions of this group, and other parts of speech:

And also pronouns:

These were all English pronouns with translation and pronunciation. Special attention I would like to pay attention to the pronunciation. The fact is that the sounds of the English language are different from the sounds of Russian, so it is actually quite difficult to convey how pronouns are pronounced in English.

The presented options are close to English pronunciation and added to make them easier to understand at a basic level. With this pronunciation you will definitely be understood, but for a more correct sound, study the transcriptions in English. To remember correct pronunciation It’s also great to listen to audio of native speakers and imitate their speaking style.

It would seem that there is nothing simpler than the pronouns: “I, you, he, she - together the whole country,” “You have yours, and I have mine.” But how to say this in English? In today's article we will look at the basic rules for using personal and possessive pronouns in English.

Personal pronouns in English

In English, a personal pronoun is used instead of a noun that we know or have already mentioned. This allows you to avoid repetitions in speech.

This is Jim. Jim is a policeman. Jim lives in New York. - This Jim. Jim police officer. Jim lives in New York.

Agree, there is too much Jim for three sentences. This is easy to fix if we combine the two sentences into one and replace the name Jim with the pronoun he (he).

This is Jim. He is a policeman and lives in New York. - This Jim. He police officer and lives in New York.

A personal pronoun can be:

1. Subject pronoun

   This pronoun is used in place of the subject in a sentence and denotes the one who performs the action. Subjective pronouns come before the verb and answer the questions “who?” So what?".

2. Object pronoun

   The pronoun is used in a sentence instead of an object, that is, the action is directed to it. Object pronouns come after the verb and answer the questions “whom?/what?”, “to whom?/what?”, “whom?/what?”, “by whom?/what?”, “about whom?” / about what?".

Personal pronouns instead of subject

The table below shows personal pronouns that are used in English instead of the subject.

Now let's look at some features of these pronouns:

• Pronoun I

  I is always written with a capital letter.

  I am a dreamer. - I dreamer.
  Mom says I can do it. - Mom says that I I can do it.

  If I is in a sentence next to another personal pronoun, then I is placed in second place.

  She and I are best friends. - We With her best friends.
  He and I played tennis together. - We With him played tennis.

• Pronouns he, she and it

  The pronouns he and she are used to refer to people. And to denote inanimate objects, phenomena and animals, the pronoun it is used.

  You know Jane. She is kind and modest. - You know Jane. She kind and modest.
  Did you see the new building yesterday? It is big. - Did you see the new building yesterday? It big.

  And if you treat your pet as a member of the family, when talking about him, you can use he or she rather than it.

  Your dog doesn't like me. It barks at me.
  - My dog ​​never barks at people. He's a good boy.
  - Your dog doesn't love me. He barks at me.
  - My dog ​​never barks at people. He good boy.

  The pronoun it is also used in impersonal sentences (in which there is no character) to describe weather, time, distance, etc.

  It's a quarter to nine. - It's fifteen minutes to nine now.
  It's foggy outside. - It's foggy outside.
  It's three kilometers between the villages. - The distance between the villages is three kilometers.

• Pronoun you

  You is translated as "you", "you" or "you" depending on the context, but agrees with the verb in plural.

  You look good in this dress. - You you look good in this dress.
  You all are beautiful. - You everyone is beautiful.
  Mrs. Walmer, I think you will be a good nurse. - Mrs. Walmer, I think You you will be a good nurse.

Personal pronouns instead of objects

In the table we present personal pronouns that are used instead of an object and appear in a sentence after the verb.

Let's look at examples:

He will help me tomorrow. - He will help to me Tomorrow.
He told us the story. - He told us this story.

We also use these pronouns after the prepositions about, on, in, with, for and others.

Stay with us. - Stay with us.
I am doing this for her. - I do it for her.

You can fix the topic and take tests in our articles “Personal pronouns in the English language” and “”.

Possessive adjectives and pronouns in English

In English there are two possessive forms:

1. Possessive adjectives
2. Possessive pronouns

Both forms denote that something belongs to someone and answer the question “whose?/whose?/whose?/whose?”

Although this article is about pronouns, we will also cover adjectives so you don't get them confused.

So what is the difference between a possessive adjective and a pronoun? A possessive adjective in English always comes before a noun and characterizes it.

This is my cup. - This my cup.
His phone is on the table. - His phone lies on the table.
Your music is annoying. - Your music annoys.

The possessive pronoun does not characterize the noun, but replaces the construction “ possessive adjective+ noun." Most often, such pronouns appear at the end of a sentence.

Are those shoes mine? - Those shoes my?
It's their dog, and that is ours. - This is their dog, and this is - our.
My dress is prettier than yours. - My dress is more beautiful yours.
Her cake was better than theirs. - Her cake was tastier than their.

We can also use a possessive pronoun after a noun with the preposition of.

This is Ross. He is a friend of me my mine. - This is Ross. He my Friend.

Also, possessive adjectives and pronouns have other features that should be remembered:

• In English there is no pronoun corresponding to the Russian “svoy”. Therefore, we translate it according to the context using possessive adjectives or pronouns.

  I'll take my(possessive adjective) bag and you take yours(possessive pronoun). - I'll take it my (mine) bag, and you take it my (yours).

• The possessive adjective and the possessive pronoun its are written without an apostrophe. If you meet it's, then this is a shortened grammatical form: it's = it + is.

  The cat played with its(possessive adjective) toy. - The cat was playing with his a toy.

• Formally, its exists as a possessive pronoun, but its use is avoided. It is used only with the pronoun own - its own (own, own).

  Each district of the city has the charm of its own(possessive pronoun). - Every district of the city has your own charm.

We have also collected for you the personal and possessive pronouns of the English language in one diagram for clarity. You can use it as a cheat sheet.

We invite you to watch a funny video from the Looney Tunes cartoon series. In this episode you will see how desperately the drake Daffy Duck tries to get hunter Elmer Fudd to shoot Bugs Bunny the rabbit. But Daffy has one problem - he gets confused about pronouns.

Try taking a short test on the use of personal and possessive pronouns in English.

Test on the topic “Personal and possessive pronouns in English”

We hope that our article helped you understand the features of the correct use of personal and possessive pronouns in English. If you want to practice the rules you have learned using examples that you understand, go to one of them.

As you know, all parts of speech are divided into independent and auxiliary. As in Russian, pronouns in English belong to an independent part of speech, which denotes an object or is a sign of it, but does not directly name persons and objects. These words do not name relationships and properties, do not give spatial or temporal characteristics.

Pronouns (Pronouns) in English replace a noun, which is why they are called “in place of a name” - He, you, it. These words can also be used instead of an adjective - Such, that, these. As in Russian, so in English, there are a lot of such lexical units, but it is necessary to know them and use them correctly. Therefore, let’s move on directly to the study.

According to their meaning, Pronouns can be classified into several groups. I suggest you familiarize yourself with this classification and the characteristics of each group:

Personal are the most important and most common pronouns. In a sentence they act as the subject. And the word "I (I)" is always written in capital letters, regardless of whether it is at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence. And the pronoun you (you, you) expresses both the plural and the singular.

It should also be remembered that lexemes he (he) and she (she) used if they want to designate an animate person, and it- to designate animals, abstract concepts and inanimate objects. A "they" used both in relation to inanimate objects and animate persons.

Personal pronouns in English are declined according to cases. In the case when they act as the subject of a sentence, they are in nominative case, and when they serve as a complement - in the object form. To make it clearer for you, please study the table

Possessive pronouns

English possessive pronouns (Possessive) we discussed in detail in the previous article. But let me remind you that they express belonging, have two forms - adjective and noun, answer the question “Whose?” and do not change in numbers. There is also a special absolute form. Look at the table showing how Possessive Pronouns are inclined:

Demonstrative pronouns in English

Demonstrative or demonstrative - point to a person or object. Demonstrative pronouns in English do not change by gender, but are declined by number, that is, they have singular and plural forms. At the same time " this" refers to an object that is located next to the speaker, and the word " that" indicates an object located at a considerable distance.

In addition, “that” can be translated into Russian as “this, this.” Demonstrative pronouns in English in a sentence can serve as subject, object, modifier or noun.

Reflexive pronouns in English

Reflexive or reflexive - express a reflexive meaning, show that the action is directed at the actor himself, therefore, reflexive pronouns in English in a sentence correspond in form to the subject.

Their distinctive feature is that they end with "- self"singular or "- selves"in the plural)". In Russian, this is the verbal suffix “-sya (-s)” or the pronoun “yourself (yourself, yourself, yourself)”: He cut himself - He cut himself

Indefinite pronouns in English

Indefinite is one of the largest groups of English pronouns. Nouns and adjectives can be substituted in sentences. Indefinite pronouns in English can be divided into words formed from “no” (no, not at all), “any” (any, several, a little) and “some” (several, a little).

Other Indefinite Pronouns include: every, each, both, all, few, little, many, much.

Interrogative pronouns in English

Interrogatives are very similar to relatives, but perform completely different functions in a sentence where they are the subject, adjective or object: Who is there? -Who's there? Sometimes there may be noun part predicate. Interrogative pronouns in English are also called "question words":

• who? - Who?
• which? - which?
• whom? - whom? to whom?
• where? - Where?
• what? - What?
• whose? - whose?
• when? - When?
• why? - Why?

Other pronouns

We dwelled in more detail on the main and more numerous pronouns, but there are other groups of pronouns in English:

• Universal: all, both, everyone, everybody, everything, every, either, each
• Dividers: another, other
• Negative: no, nobody, nothing, no one, neither, none
• Relative: that, which, whose, who

Possessive pronouns in English are one of the topics covered at the Beginner level. It's really quite simple, since you only need to remember about a dozen forms and words. English possessive pronouns are not inflected by case, as in Russian. Compare: my book, my book, my book - my book.

Possessive pronouns: forms

There are two forms: adjunctive and absolute. Pronouns in the connecting form are not used independently - only with a qualifying word: my book, our problems, her beauty. Pronouns in absolute form can be a full-fledged independent member of a sentence. It is not our problem. It is yours. - This is not our problem. This is yours.

First person possessive pronouns

In the singular: my - mine (mine - mine). Possessive pronouns of the first person plural: our - ours (ours - ours). The form mine can also be used with defined words: with those that begin with a vowel or with h, for example, mine heart, but such a phrase is outdated and can only be found when reading poetry collections.

My hairs are very long. - My hair is very long.

The world is mine. - This world is mine.

This dress is mine. - This dress is mine.

I like your dress. What do you think about mine? - I like your dress. How do you find mine?

Second person possessive pronouns

Singular pronouns: your - yours (yours - yours). Your cat has eaten all my sausage. - Your cat ate all my sausage. Make up your mind! - Come on, make up your mind! (here the possessive pronoun replaces the definite article).

This cat is yours. - This cat is yours.

Second person plural possessive pronouns have the same forms as singular ones. For example: your (yours).

Third person possessive pronouns

In the singular: his - his (absolute form - his), her - her (hers), its - his, her, belonging to this.

That hut is his, and this one is hers. - This hut is his, and this one is hers.

A smile of hers can make me happy. “Her smile alone can make me happy.”

It is worth dwelling in more detail on the possessive pronoun Its. In Russian, any object has its own gender. A window is it, a spoon is she, a chair is he, but in English all these objects will be “it”. Therefore, the possessive pronoun Its is used in relation to all objects, animals and babies, if the gender of the animal or baby does not need to be particularly emphasized.

Every nation has its own special features. - Each nation has its own characteristics.

Its tail is like little bunch of hair, its ears are long. Who is it? - His tail is like a small tuft of wool, his ears are long. Who is this?

Possessive pronouns of the third person in the plural: theirs - theirs (theirs - theirs, belonging to them, in common parlance - theirs). In Russian, the absolute form “ikh” is used extremely rarely, which is due to its difficulty in pronunciation. As a rule, it is used only with a qualifying word.

Their friendship was amazing. - Their friendship was amazing.

From my childhood to theirs. - Things i saved for my daughters. - From my childhood to their childhood. - Things I saved for my daughters.

For ease of perception, all forms of possessive pronouns are given in the table.

As you can see, it is not the most difficult task to remember all the possessive pronouns. The English language is simpler in this part of grammar than Russian. Foreigners who decide to study our language will have to deal with more complex tables in which pronouns will change not only by person, but also by gender: for one English my in the Russian language there are four words - mine, mine, mine, mine.

We use possessive pronouns in our speech every day. This is my cat, their dog, her portion of ice cream, his briefcase, their daughter... We will see pronouns in almost every sentence. Since the theory on this topic has already been studied, today we will proceed directly to practice to consolidate the acquired knowledge. Remember: when studying possessive pronouns in English, exercises will help you remember the theory much more effectively than even a hundred repetitions. So let's get straight to the point! They're waiting for us interesting tasks, which will be easy enough even for children.

Exercises on possessive pronouns are relatively easy. And if you first repeat the basic subtleties of translation, then working on the tasks will be very easy. So, for your attention, tables with possessive pronouns that will put all the features of translation on the shelves.

First form of possessive pronouns

Second form of possessive pronouns

As you already know, despite the fact that possessive pronouns (Possessive Pronouns) have two forms, they all answer the same question => whose? That is Whose? Whose? Whose? Whose? At the same time, we would like to remind you that the absolute form of possessive pronouns differs from the first (attributive) both in spelling and in role in the sentence: nouns do not follow the absolute form, they are missing.

Examples:

That is his cup => This is his cup (possessive pronoun in attributive form his+ noun cup)

But! That cup is mine=> This cup is mine (possessive pronoun in absolute form mine, after which there is no need to put a noun).

So, when we have repeated the theory, we can safely begin the exercises. Now you can test your knowledge in practice. Forward!

Exercise 1. (possessive pronouns)

Correctly place the possessive pronouns, choosing from those proposed in the attributive form (my, his, her, its, our, your, their):

my his her our them

Book but she denied to return it to him.

I saw that picture in

his our its her their

House but don’t remember whether it was her property or just a gift.

I forgot my glasses in

your my their her our

Car. Probably they will return it to me tomorrow.

The teacher was listening to

my their your our its

Answer quite patiently but it was really silly one.

His It's Your Her

Jacket I found in

her his my their our

My Your His Our Their

Parents were absent while

his my their your our

Were at school.

Pay attention! In these sentences, the possessive pronouns can be swapped. For example, in the last sentence, the Possessive Pronouns can be swapped without affecting the context. But, for example, in the third sentence there will be only one choice, since there is an identifier word they.

We continue to use possessive pronouns

Exercise 2. (possessive pronouns)

Write correct option from those presented in brackets:

My grandfather has a cat. color is warm red.

She saw dress washing in washing machine. The dress in washing machine was (her, hers, its).

I saw him wearing best shirt It suits him so much!

cat sleeps when it has done all insidious things.

They live in a big city. city ​​is so nice I would like to visit it this summer!

I like dress more than .

I have a rabbit. The rabbit is .

plane is a luxury one as well as pleasure boat

My sister has a doll. doll is very expensive.

Her brother is very naughty. Only trousers costs 5 times more than my most expensive dress!

Exercise 3. (possessive pronouns)

Place the pronouns correctly in attributive and absolute form:

I have a dress. The dress is.

Dress is very nice.

Her friend has a new lipstick. The new lipstick is .

Lipstick is of dark wine color.

This shirt is.

Shirt is from the newest collection.

The business is