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{{short description|Third-person, gender-neutral pronoun}}
{{Italic title}}
{{About|the English personal pronoun|4=other uses|5=They (disambiguation)}}
{{redirect-distinguish|Theirs|Thiers (disambiguation){{!}}Thiers}}
{{Use DMY dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Wiktionary|they|them|their|theirs|themselves|themself}}

In [[Modern English]], '''''they''''' is a [[Grammatical person|third-person]] [[personal pronoun|pronoun]] relating to a [[Subject (grammar)|grammatical subject]].

== Morphology ==
In [[Standard English|Standard]] Modern English, ''they'' has five distinct word [[Morphology (linguistics)|forms]]:<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Huddleston |first1=Rodney |last2=Pullum |author1-link=Rodney Huddleston |first2=Geoffrey K. |author2-link=Geoffrey K. Pullum |title=[[The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=2002}}</ref>

* ''they'': the [[Nominative case|nominative]] (subjective) form
* ''them'': the [[Accusative case|accusative]] (objective, called the '[[Oblique case|oblique]]'.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=[[The Cambridge History of the English Language]] |volume=III: 1476–1776 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=1999 |editor-last=Lass |editor-first=Roger |author-link=Roger Lass}}</ref>{{Rp|146}}) and a non-standard [[English determiners|determinative]] form.
* ''their:'' the dependent [[Genitive case|genitive]] (possessive) form
* ''theirs'': independent [[Genitive case|genitive]] form
* ''themselves'': prototypical [[Reflexive pronoun|reflexive]] form 
* ''themself'': derivative [[Reflexive pronoun|reflexive]] form (nonstandard; now chiefly used instead of "himself or herself" as a reflexive [[epicenity]] for ''they'' in pronominal reference to a singular [[referent]])<ref>{{cite web |title=themself: pronoun |work=Merriam-Webster Dictionary |edition=online |date=2021 |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |url= https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/themself |access-date=26 November 2023}}</ref>

==History==
{{Further|Proto-Germanic pronouns|Proto-Indo-European pronouns}}[[Old English]] had a single third-person pronoun {{lang|ang|[[He (pronoun)|hē]]}}, which had both singular and plural forms, and ''they'' wasn't among them. In or about the start of the 13th century, ''they'' was imported from a [[Scandinavia|Scandinavian]] source ([[Old Norse]] {{lang|non|þeir}}, [[History of Danish|Old Danish]], [[Old Swedish]] {{lang|non|þer}}, {{lang|non|þair}}), in which it was a [[Grammatical gender|masculine]] [[plural]] [[demonstrative]] pronoun. It comes from [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] *''thai'', nominative plural pronoun, from [[Proto-Indo-European language|PIE]] *''to''-, demonstrative pronoun.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Origin and meaning of they |url= https://www.etymonline.com/word/they |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |first=Douglas |last=Harper |date=2017 |access-date=20 March 2021}}</ref> According to ''[[The Cambridge History of the English Language]]'':<ref>{{Cite book |title=[[The Cambridge History of the English Language]] |volume=II: 1066–1476 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=1992 |editor-last=Blake |editor-first=Norman |editor-link=Norman Blake (academic) |page=176 |ref=Blake (1992)}}</ref>

{{blockquote|1=By [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]]'s time the ''th''- form has been adopted in London for the subject case only, whereas the oblique cases remain in their native form ({{lang|enm|hem}}, {{lang|enm|here}} &lt; [[Old English|OE]] {{lang|ang|heom}}, {{lang|ang|heora}}). At the same period (and indeed before), [[Scots language|Scots]] texts, such as Barbour's Bruce, have the ''th''- form in all cases.}}

The development in [[Middle English]] is shown in the following table. At the final stage, it had reached its modern form.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Three stages of ''they'' in Middle English<ref>[[#Blake (1992)|Blake (1992)]], p. 121</ref>
!
!I
!II
!III
|-
!Nominative
|{{lang|enm|þei}}
|{{lang|enm|þei}}
|{{lang|enm|þei}}
|-
!Oblique
|{{lang|enm|hem}}
|{{lang|enm|hem}}
|{{lang|enm|hem}} ~ {{lang|enm|þem}}
|-
!Genitive
|{{lang|enm|her[e]}}
|{{lang|enm|her[e]}} ~ {{lang|enm|þeir}}
|{{lang|enm|þeir}}
|}

==Singular ''they''==
{{Main|Singular they}}

[[singular they|Singular ''they'']] is a use of ''they'' as an [[Epicenity|epicene]] (gender-neutral) pronoun for a singular [[referent]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bjorkman |first=B. |date=2017 |title=Singular they and the syntactic representation of gender in English |journal=Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics |volume=2 |issue=1 |page=80 |doi=10.5334/gjgl.374 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title='He or she' versus 'they' |date=15 December 2011 |work=OxfordDictionaries.com |url= http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/he-or-she-versus-they |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111215021401/http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/he-or-she-versus-they |archive-date=15 December 2011 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |access-date=26 November 2023}}</ref> In this usage, ''they'' follows plural agreement rules (''they are'', not *''they is''), but the [[Semantics|semantic]] [[reference]] is singular. Unlike plural ''they'', singular ''they'' is only used for [[Person|people]]. For this reason, it could be considered to have personal [[Grammatical gender|gender]]. Some people refuse to use the epicene pronoun ''they'' when referring to individuals on the basis that it is primarily a plural pronoun instead of a singular pronoun.<ref>{{Cite web |first1=Alex |last1=Hanna |first2=Nikki L. |last2=Stevens |first3=Os |last3=Keyes |first4=Maliha |last4=Ahmed |title=Actually, We Should ''Not'' All Use They/Them Pronouns |date=3 May 2019 |work=[[Scientific American|ScientificAmerican.com]] |department="Voices" blog |url= https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/actually-we-should-not-all-use-they-them-pronouns/ |access-date=26 November 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |first=Jessica |last=Murphy |title=Toronto professor Jordan Peterson takes on gender-neutral pronouns |date=4 November 2016 |work=[[BBC News]] |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37875695 |access-date=26 November 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |first=Jason |last=McBride |title=The Pronoun Warrior |date=25 January 2017 |magazine=[[Toronto Life]] |url= https://torontolife.com/city/u-t-professor-sparked-vicious-battle-gender-neutral-pronouns/ |access-date=26 November 2023}}</ref> However, the online edition of the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' records usage of ''they'' "referring to an individual generically or indefinitely", with examples dating to 2008–2009.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.oed.com/dictionary/they_pron?tab=meaning_and_use&tl=true#1288185420 |title=they: pronoun |at=I.2.b. |date=2013 |work=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] |edition=online |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |access-date=26 November 2023}}</ref>

===Word of the year===
In December 2019, [[Merriam-Webster]] chose singular ''they'' as word of the year. The word was chosen because "English famously lacks a gender-neutral singular pronoun to correspond neatly with singular pronouns like everyone or someone, and as a consequence ''they'' has been used for this purpose for over 600 years."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Locker |first=Melissa |title=Merriam Webster Names 'They' As Its Word of the Year for 2019 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=10 December 2019 |url= https://time.com/5746516/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2019/ |access-date=10 December 2019}}</ref>

== Syntax ==

=== Functions ===
''They'' can appear as a [[Subject (grammar)|subject]], [[Object (grammar)|object]], [[determiner]] or [[Complement (linguistics)|predicative complement]].<ref name=":1" /> The reflexive form also appears as an [[Adjunct (grammar)|adjunct]].

* Subject: "''They''<nowiki />'re there"; "''them'' being there"; "''their'' being there".
* Object: "I saw ''them''"; "I directed her to ''them''"; "They connect to ''themselves''."
* Predicative complement: "In our attempt to fight evil, we have become ''them''"; "They eventually felt they had become ''themselves''."
* Dependent [[determiner]]: "I touched ''their'' car"; "''them'' folks are helpful" (non-standard).
* Independent determiner: "This is ''theirs''."
* Adjunct: "They did it ''themselves''."

=== Dependents ===
Pronouns rarely take [[Phrase structure grammar#Dependency relation|dependents]], but it is possible for ''they'' to have many of the same kind of dependents as other [[noun phrase]]s.

* [[Relative clause]] modifier: "they ''who arrive late''".
* Determiner: "Sometimes, when you think, 'I will show them', ''the'' 'them' you end up showing is yourself."
* [[Adjective phrase]] modifier: "the ''real'' them".
* [[Adverbial phrase|Adverb phrase]] external modifier: "''not even'' them".

== Semantics ==
Plural ''they''<nowiki/>'s [[referent]]s can be anything, including persons, as long as it does not include the speaker (which would require ''[[we]]'') or the addressee(s) (which would require ''[[you]]''). Singular ''they'' can only refer to individual persons. Until the end of the 20th century, this was limited to those whose [[gender]] is unknown (e.g., "Someone's here. I wonder what ''they'' want"; "That person over there seems to be waving ''their'' hands at us.").<ref>{{Cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Lagunoff |first=Rachel |title=Singular They |date=1997 |publisher=University of California, Los Angeles}}</ref>

===Generic===
{{uncited section|date=August 2024}}
The pronoun ''they'' can also be used to refer to an unspecified group of people, as in "In Japan ''they'' drive on the left", or "''They''<nowiki />'re putting in a new restaurant across the street." It often refers to the authorities, or to some perceived powerful group, sometimes sinister: "''They'' don't want the public to know the whole truth."

==See also==
* [[English personal pronouns]]
* {{section link|Genderqueer#Gender pronouns}}
* [[Generic antecedents]]
* [[Object pronoun]]
* [[Possessive pronoun]]
* [[Spivak pronoun]]
* [[Subject pronoun]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Modern English personal pronouns}}
<!--[[Category:Modern English personal pronouns]] is provided by the {{Modern English personal pronouns}} template above.}}-->