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 form. |
The older forms thoo (second
person singular nominative) and thee (second
person singular objective) survived in most dialects
until the mid-nineteenth century and still exist to
some extent in Southern, North Northern and in Insular
Scots ('du' and 'dee'). Where thoo
and thee are used as the familiar forms employed
by parents speaking to children, elders to youngsters,
or between friends or equals, while ye or you
as the second person formal singular employed when
speaking to a superior or when a youngster addresses
an elder.
In Shetland thoo may be used
with a verb taking the same form for 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'.
Come Yuil we'll gie't thaim.
When Christmas comes, we'll
give it to them. |
Gin thay dinna gie's
it back, we'll caw on the polis.
If
they don't give it back to us, we'll call the
police. |
Naebody speirt at us gin
we wantit tae gang.
No
one asked us if we wanted to go. |
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
and they are always fighting. |
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 dinna care aboot nane o't.
A
don't care for any of it. |
Ye'll see't ere 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 placed 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. |
