| FIRST PERSON. | |||
| Singular. | Plural. | ||
| Nom. | I | we | |
| Poss. | mine, my | our, ours | |
| Obj. | me | us | |
| SECOND PERSON. | |||
| Singular. | |||
| Old Form | Common Form. | ||
| Nom. | thou | you | |
| Poss. | thine, thy | your, yours | |
| Obj. | thee | you | |
| Plural. | |||
| Nom. | ye | you | |
| Poss. | your, yours | your, yours | |
| Obj. | you | you | |
| THIRD PERSON. | |||
| Singular. | |||
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut.. | |
| Nom. | he | she | it |
| Poss. | his | her, hers | its |
| Obj. | him | her | it |
| Plur. of all Three. | |||
| Nom. | they | ||
| Poss. | their, theirs | ||
| Obj. | them | ||
Remarks on These Forms.
First and second persons without gender.
78. It will be noticed that the pronouns of the first and second persons have no forms to distinguish gender. The speaker may be either male or female, or, by personification, neuter; so also with the person or thing spoken to.
Third person singular has gender.
But the third person has, in the singular, a separate form for each gender, and also for the neuter.
In Old English these three were formed from the same root; namely, masculine hē, feminine hēo, neuter hit.
The form hit (for it) is still heard in vulgar English, and hoo (for hēo) in some dialects of England.
The plurals were hī, heora, heom, in Old English; the forms they, their, them, perhaps being from the English demonstrative, though influenced by the cognate Norse forms.