Pronouns & Possessives
Level A2 · Pronouns & Possessives
English uses different pronoun families for different jobs in a sentence, and picking the right one means asking what role the missing word plays: is it doing the action, receiving it, showing ownership, or referring back to the subject itself? Getting the family right matters as much as getting the specific word right.
Compare the four main families side by side:
- Personal (subject/object): names who or what is involved — I/me, you/you, he/him, she/her, it/it, we/us, they/them. Full depth: see Personal & Possessive Pronouns.
- Possessive (determiner/pronoun): shows ownership — my/mine, your/yours, his/his, her/hers, its/its, our/ours, their/theirs. Full depth: see Personal & Possessive Pronouns.
- Reflexive: used when the subject and object are the same person, or for emphasis — myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves: She hurt herself; I did it myself. Full depth: see Reflexive Pronouns for Emphasis.
- Indefinite (somebody, anything, nowhere) and demonstrative (this, that) pronouns cover two more common jobs — pointing at an unspecified person/thing, or at something nearby/distant — each with its own dedicated topic.
The most common mistake is picking the right pronoun but the wrong family for the job — using a possessive where a personal pronoun belongs, or a personal pronoun where a reflexive is needed. I hurt me is wrong (subject and object are the same person, so it needs the reflexive myself: I hurt myself). A second frequent error is skipping the family question entirely and just guessing the form that 'sounds right' — which fails as soon as the sentence uses a less common pronoun like its or theirs.
Before picking a specific pronoun, first identify the family: is something doing or receiving an action (personal), does it show ownership (possessive), or are the subject and object the same person (reflexive)? Only once the family is clear does the exact word — I vs me, my vs mine, himself vs him — become a simple lookup.