The personal pronouns refer to
three sets of people.
- Personal pronouns singular.
The nominative names the subject
and the objectives names the object.
| |
Nominative |
Objective |
| 1. Person singular: |
A |
I |
me |
me |
| 2. Person singular: |
ye |
you |
ye, you |
you |
| 3. Person singular: |
he |
he |
him |
him |
| 3. Person singular: |
she |
she |
her |
her |
| 3. Person singular: |
it, hit* |
it |
it, hit* |
it |
| * Emphatic forms. |
The older second person singular
nominative thoo and second person singular
objective thee are used as the familiar forms
by parents speaking to children, elders to youngsters,
or between friends or equals and ye or you
as the second person formal singular when speaking
to a superior or when a youngster addresses an elder.They
still survive to some extent in Southern Scots and
in Shetland as 'du' and 'dee' where
thoo is often used with a verb having the same
form as the third person.
Thoo is...
You are... |
Thoo haes...
You have... |
Thoo will...
You shall... |
Thoo comes...
You come... |
The 1 Person singular A is
always written with a capital letter.
The plural us is often used
instead of the 1st person objective singular me
in combination with verbs. Often shortened to 's.
Gie's the haimer.
Give
me the hammer. |
Lat us gang oot the nicht.
Let
me go out tonight. |
Are ye no gaun tae come wi's?
Aren't
you going to come with me? |
Will ye hae's Bess?
Will
you marry me Bess? |
- Personal pronoun plural.
| |
Nominative |
Objective |
| 1. Person plural: |
we* |
we |
us, hus** |
us |
| 2. Person plural: |
ye
you |
you |
ye
you |
you |
| 3. Person plural: |
thay |
they |
thaim |
them |
*We may be pronounced oo
[u] in Southern
Scots and also be used as an unstressed substitute
for us.
**Us [vs,vz, ɪs,
ɪz], unstressed [(ə)s,
(ə)z], emphatic [hɪz,
hvz].
The plural forms of you and ye, youse
and yese, which probably originated in Ireland
are quite widespread in Scotland.
The unstressed form of thaim is [ðəm].
Thaim is often used indefinitely (not referring
to a particular person) to represent 'he', 'them',
'those' and 'whoever'.
You'll no gar me dae ony
o thae things.
You will
not compel me to do any of those things. |
Come Yuil we'll gie't thaim.
When Christmas comes, we'll
give it to them. |
Gin thay daena gie's
it back we'll caw on the polis.
If
they don't give it back to us we will call the
police. |
Naebody speirt at us gin
we wantit tae gang.
No
one asked us if we wanted to go. |
That's whit thay caw it here.
That is what they
call it here. |
We aucht that.
We
own that. |
It wisna thaim ava.
It
wasn't them at all. |
Gie't thaim that wants it.
Give
it to those who want it. |
Us an thaim is aye fechtin.
We
are always fighting each other. |
Me an thaim's no chief the
nou.
They and I are not
on friendly terms at present. |
Hus an thaim's no
awfu pally.
We and they
are not very friendly. |
- When two pronouns, one of which is it come
together, it generally follows the other pronoun.
Gie's it.
Give
it to me. |
Gie him it.
Give
it to him. |
A gied her it.
I
gave it to her. |
Thay gied me it.
They
gave it to me. |
Did ye tell him it?
Did
you tell it to him? |
A'll gie ye it.
I'll
give it to you. |
Ye'll no gie's it back again.
You won't give it back to me
again. |
She'll gie thaim it.
She'll
give it to them. |
A'll tell ye it.
I'll
tell it to you. |
it may be abbreviated to 't.
In eastern dialects when it
is abbreviated after a vowel or a voiced consonant
it may be pronounced /d/.
A hae leukit awgates for't.
I've
looked everywhere for it. |
A daena care aboot nane o't.
A
don't care for any of it. |
Ye'll see't or lang.
You'll
see it before long. |
A'll gie ye't.
I'll
give it to you. |
A coudna dae't.
I
couldn't do it. |
That'll pit him frae't.
That'll
put him off it. |
He's by wi't.
He's
past it. (as good as dead) |
He shoud pou't oot the nou.
He
should pull it out now. |
- When two pronouns of different persons come together
the first person is generally put first.
Me an you'll gang thegither.
You and I'll go together. |
Me an him's guid pals.
He
and I are good friends. |
