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 use of thoo as
the 2. person familiar singular and ye
as the 2. person formal singular along the lines of
the German 'Sie' and 'Du' survived in most dialects
until the beginning of the twentieth century. They
still survive in Shetland as du and
you. Thoo was 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, youse
and yese, which probably originated
in Ireland are quite widespread in Scotland.
The unstressed form of thaim is
thum, not usually written as such.
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
dinna 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. |
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 dinna 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. |
