Preface
Before looking at Old English pronouns, it is important to understand two key grammatical terms:
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Paradigm: All the grammatical forms of a verb that show a major morphological change. An example in Modern English is “to get” → “get,” “got,” “gotten,” which are, respectively, the infinitive, present tense, past tense, and past participle. However, in Mitchell and Robinson, paradigm refers to a set of features that characterise a work (noun, adjective, etc.), which linguists would otherwise define as declention.
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Case: the grammatical role a word plays in a sentence. In Modern English, word order usually shows case (e.g., The dog bit the man vs. The man bit the dog). But in Old English, word endings carried this information, which allowed word order to be more flexible.
The Cases of Old English
Old English pronouns (and nouns) change their endings depending on case. Here are the main cases you will encounter:
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Nominative → subject of the sentence.
Ic eom munuc = “I am a monk” -
Accusative → direct object of the sentence (the receiver of the action).
þær bædon Scottas = “there asked the Scots” -
Genitive → possession or close association.
landes = “of the land” -
Dative → indirect object (to/for someone), and after many prepositions.
Ic sealde him bōc = “I gave him a book” -
Instrumental → used to express “by means of” or “with.”
þȳ sweorde = “with the sword.” (This case was fading even in Old English and often overlaps with the dative.)
Other cases you may see in related languages (like Latin) but not separately marked in Old English include the ablative, locative, and vocative. In Old English, their functions were mostly absorbed into the dative. for more information about cases in general, check out [Essentials of Linguistics 2nd Edition] (https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/essentialsoflinguistics2/)
Understanding case is essential: without recognizing case endings, you cannot tell who is doing what to whom in an Old English sentence.
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
As discussed in the Parts of Speech tutorial, pronouns are a closed class of words that replace noun phrases. In Old English, pronouns are broadly similar to those in Modern English, but they show some important differences, especially in form and case.
The personal pronouns in Modern English (I, you, he/she/it, we, they) are probably the first examples that come to mind. In Old English, however, the forms are a little different (Especially considering the cases and Inflections):
Nominative (Subject) Forms
The nominative case is used for the subject of the sentence. These are the forms you are most likely to recognize:
- I → ic, a form shared with other Germanic languages.
- you (singular) → þū, which may feel familiar from Shakespeare (thou art a villain).
- he → hē, while she → hēo, and it → hit.
- we → wē.
- you (plural) → gē, similar to Shakespearean ye.
- they → hīe. (Modern English they is a later borrowing from Old Norse.)
Accusative (Direct Object) Forms
The accusative case is used for the direct object of a verb (the person or thing receiving the action).
- me → mē (with a long vowel).
- you (singular) → þē (I know thee).
- him → hine (the masculine ending -ne marks the accusative; this form eventually developed into him).
- her → hīe. (Note: the same spelling also means they in the nominative plural, so context is crucial.)
- it → hit (same as in the nominative).
- us → ūs.
- you (plural) → ēow.
- them → hīe (same as nominative they and accusative her).
Genitive (Possession) Forms
The genitive case marks possession, much like Modern English mine, yours, his, hers, its, our, their. Careful not to confused possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives (my vs. mine).
- mine → mīn
- yours (singular) → þīn
- his → his (unchanged from Old English to Modern English!)
- hers → hire
- its → his (neuter shares the masculine form here)
- ours → ūre
- yours (plural) → ēower
- theirs → hira
Dative (Indirect Object) Forms
The dative case is used for indirect objects (to/for someone), after certain prepositions, and sometimes to indicate means or manner.
- me → mē
- you (singular) → þē
- him → him
- her → hire
- it → him (the neuter form overlaps with masculine here)
- us → ūs
- you (plural) → ēow
- them → him
Old English Personal Pronouns
Here is the full chart of the personal pronouns.
| Case | 1st Person Sing. | 2nd Person Sing. | 3rd Person Masc. | 3rd Person Fem. | 3rd Person Neut. | 1st Person Pl. | 2nd Person Pl. | 3rd Person Pl. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. | ic | þū | hē | hēo | hit | wē | gē | hīe |
| Acc. | mē | þē | hine | hīe | hit | ūs | ēow | hīe |
| Gen. | mīn | þīn | his | hire | his | ūre | ēower | hira |
| Dat. | mē | þē | him | hire | him | ūs | ēow | him |
Demonstrative Pronouns
In Modern English, we distinguish between determiners/articles (the, a/an) and demonstratives pronouns (this, that, these, those). Old English did not make this distinction. Instead, the demonstrative pronouns acted as both: they could mean this/that in the strong, pointing sense, or they could function as the definite article the.
For example:
- se cyning → “that king” or simply “the king”
- sēo cwēn → “that/the queen”
- þæt hūs → “that/the house”
Over time, the demonstratives weakened in meaning when used in everyday contexts, eventually becoming the Modern English definite article the.
There are two major demonstrative paradigms in Old English:
- se, sēo, þæt → “that, the”
- þes, þēos, þis → “this”
Old English Demonstrative Pronouns
| Case | Masc. “that/the” | Fem. “that/the” | Neut. “that/the” | Masc. “this” | Fem. “this” | Neut. “this” |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. Sg. | se | sēo | þæt | þes | þēos | þis |
| Acc. Sg. | þone | þā | þæt | þisne | þās | þis |
| Gen. Sg. | þæs | þǣre | þæs | þisses | þisse | þisses |
| Dat. Sg. | þǣm | þǣre | þǣm | þissum | þisse | þissum |
| Instr. Sg. | þȳ/þon | — | þȳ/þon | þȳs | — | þȳs |
| Nom. Pl. | þā | þā | þā | þās | þās | þās |
| Acc. Pl. | þā | þā | þā | þās | þās | þās |
| Gen. Pl. | þāra | þāra | þāra | þissa | þissa | þissa |
| Dat. Pl. | þǣm | þǣm | þǣm | þissum | þissum | þissum |