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They
English
Etymology
From Middle English they < Old Norse þeir (those) < Proto-Germanic *thai (those), < Proto-Indo-European pronomial base *to- (that).
Pronunciation
The third person, nominative case, usually plural, but sometimes used in the singular when the gender is unknown or irrelevant.
(Objective case: them, possessive: their, possessive noun; theirs, reflexive: themselves [plural], themself [singular].)
- The third person plural they refers to a group of others.
- Fred and Jane? They just arrived.
- The third person singular they refers to a single person of unknown or irrelevant gender. Usage note: Use of singular they in formal written English remains marginal and is widely deprecated. This usage is informal and is regarded as incorrect in written English by many style guides and usage commentators. It nevertheless enjoys significant usage in spoken English, and is also common in informal written English.
- Have you ever seen someone while they are on their deathbed?
- An indefinite pronoun having a vague meaning of "people" or "some people".
- They say it's a good place to live.
- They didn't have computers in the old days.
- They should do something about this.
- Another indefinite pronoun is one, but the two words do not mean the same and are rarely interchangeable.
Translations
third person plural pronoun
- Arabic: هُمَا (húmaː) dual, هُمُ / هُمْ (hum/húmu) pl, هُنَّ (húnna) f/pl
- Bulgarian: те (te)
- Chinese: 他们 (tāmen), 她们 (tāmen), 它们 (tāmen), 人们 (rénmen)
- Czech: oni, ony
- Dutch: zij , ze
- Dyirbal: (no third-person pronoun)
- Esperanto: ili , tiuj
- Finnish: he (of people), ne (of things and animals)
- Fijian: rau (dual), iratou (paucal), ira (pl)
- French: ils m, elles f
- German: sie
- Greek: αυτοί , αυταί , αυτά (aftí, afté, aftá) m/f/n
- Hausa: súu (independent form)
- Hawaiian: lāua dual, lākou pl
- Hebrew: הם (hēm) m, הן (hēn) f
- Hungarian: ők
- Ido: li, ili m, eli f, oli things
- Indonesian: mereka
- Interlingua: illes m, illas f, illos n
- Irish: siad conjunctive, iad disjunctive
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- Italian: essi, loro
- Japanese: 彼ら / 彼等 (かれら , karéra)
- Korean: 그들 (geudeul)
- Lakota: epi , iyepi
- Ojibwe: wiinawaa
- Polish: oni m, one (nonmasculine)
- Portuguese: eles m, elas f
- Quechua: paykuna
- Romanian: ei m, ele f
- Russian: они (oní)
- Scottish Gaelic: iad nonemphatic, iadsan emphatic
- Slovene: oni
- Spanish: ellos m, ellas f
- Swahili: wao
- Swedish: de, dom
- Tagalog: nila (ng form), kanila (sa form), sila (unmarked form)
- Thai: พวกเขา (phuààk kháo)
- Tok Pisin: ol
- Vietnamese: họ
- !Xũ: si (people), hi (animals, things)
- Yoruba: wọ́n (weak pronoun), àwọn (strong pronoun)
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third person singular, of unknown or irrelevant gender
one (an indefinite pronoun having a vague meaning of "people" or "some people")
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- Portuguese: se
- Spanish: se
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