In Modern English, ''he'' is a singular, masculine, third-person

pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not c ...

Morphology

Standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

Modern English, ''he'' has four shapes representing five distinct word

forms Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data * ...

: * ''he'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''him'': the

accusative The accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘th ...

(objective) form (also called the

oblique case In grammar, an oblique (abbreviated ; from la, casus obliquus) or objective case ( abbr. ) is a nominal case other than the nominative case, and sometimes, the vocative. A noun or pronoun in the oblique case can generally appear in any role ex ...

)) * ''his:'' the dependent and independent genitive (possessive) forms * ''himself'': the reflexive form

History

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

had a single third-person pronoun — from the

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...

demonstrative base *''khi''-, from PIE *''ko''- "this" — which had a plural and three genders in the singular. The modern pronoun '' it'' developed out of the neuter singular, starting to appear without the ''h'' in the 12th century. ''Her'' developed out of the feminine singular dative and genitive forms, while the other feminine forms and the plural were replaced with other words. The older pronoun had the following forms: In the 12th century, ''it'' started to separate and appear without an ''h''. Around the same time, one case was lost, and distinct pronouns started to develop. The ''-self'' forms developed in early

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...

, with ''hine self'' becoming ''himself.'' By the 15th century, the Middle English forms of ''he'' had solidified into those we use today.

Gender

''He'' had three genders in Old English, but in Middle English, the neuter and feminine genders split off. Today, ''he'' is the only masculine pronoun in English. In the 18th century, it was suggested as a gender-neutral pronoun, and was thereafter often prescribed in manuals of style and school textbooks until around the 1960s. In 2019 the Meriam-Webster dictionary added the singular ''they'' after seeing a spike in search interest.

Syntax

Functions

''He'' can appear as a subject,

object Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an ...

, determiner or predicative complement. The reflexive form also appears as an adjunct. ''He'' occasionally appears as a

modifier Modifier may refer to: * Grammatical modifier, a word that modifies the meaning of another word or limits its meaning ** Compound modifier, two or more words that modify a noun ** Dangling modifier, a word or phrase that modifies a clause in an am ...

in a noun phrase. * Subject: ''He's there; him being there''; ''his being there''; ''he paid for himself to be there.'' * Object: ''I saw him''; ''I introduced her to him; He saw himself.'' * Predicative complement: ''The only person there was him.'' * Dependent determiner: ''I met his friend.'' * Independent determiner: ''This is his.'' * Adjunct: ''He did it himself.'' * Modifier: ''The he goat was missing.''

Dependents

Pronouns rarely take dependents, but it is possible for ''he'' to have many of the same kind of dependents as other

noun phrases In linguistics, a noun phrase, or nominal (phrase), is a phrase that has a noun or pronoun as its head (linguistics), head or performs the same Grammar, grammatical function as a noun. Noun phrases are very common linguistic typology, cross-lingui ...

. *

Relative clause A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun or noun phraseRodney D. Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, ''A Student's Introduction to English Grammar'', CUP 2005, p. 183ff. and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the argument ...

modifier: ''he who arrives late'' * Determiner: A: ''Somebody was here, and he left this''. B: ''I'm that he.'' *

Adjective phrase An adjective phrase (or adjectival phrase) is a phrase whose head is an adjective. Almost any grammar or syntax textbook or dictionary of linguistics terminology defines the adjective phrase in a similar way, e.g. Kesner Bland (1996:499), Crystal ( ...

modifier: ''the real him'' *

Adverb phrase In linguistics, an ''adverbial phrase'' ("AdvP") is a multi-word expression operating adverbially: its syntactic function is to modify other expressions, including verbs, adjectives, adverbs, adverbials, and sentences. Adverbial phrases can be div ...

external modifier: ''Not even him''

Semantics

''He'''s referents are generally limited to individual

male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

persons A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

, excluding the speaker and the addressee. ''He'' is always definite and usually

specific Specific may refer to: * Specificity (disambiguation) * Specific, a cure or therapy for a specific illness Law * Specific deterrence, focussed on an individual * Specific finding, intermediate verdict used by a jury in determining the fina ...

Generic

The pronoun ''he'' can be used to refer to an unspecified person, as in ''If you see someone in trouble, help him.'' (See

Gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures ...

above). This can seem very unnatural, even ungrammatical, as in these examples: * ^?''When somebody gives birth, it's good for him to have assistance.'' * ^?''If either your mother or father would like to discuss it, I'll talk to him.'' The dominant epicene pronoun in modern written British English is 'they'. Many style guides now reject the generic 'he'.

Deities

When speaking of

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

or the Holy Spirit, some

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

use the capitalised forms "He", "His" and "Him" in writing, and in some

translations of the Bible The Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. all of the Bible has been translated into 724 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,617 languages, and ...

Pronunciation

According to the

OED The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

, the following pronunciations are used: