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Evolution of English pronouns
"Who" and "whom", "he" and "him", "she" and "her", etc. are remnants of both the old nominative versus accusative and also of nominative versus dative. In other words, "her" (for example) serves as both the dative and accusative version of the nominative pronoun "she". In Old English as well as modern German and Icelandic as further examples, these cases had distinct pronouns.
This collapse of the separate case pronouns into the same word is one of the reasons grammarians consider the dative and accusative cases to be extinct in English — neither is an ideal term for the role played by "whom". Instead, the term objective is often used; that is, "whom" is a generic objective pronoun which can describe either a direct or an indirect object. The nominative case, "who", is called simply the subjective. The information formerly conveyed by having distinct case forms is now mostly provided by prepositions and word order.
Modern English morphologically distinguishes only one case, the possessive case — which some linguists argue is not a case at all, but a clitic (see the entry for genitive case for more information). With only a few pronominal exceptions, the objective and subjective always have the same form.
Interrogative pronouns
|
Case |
OldEnglish |
MiddleEnglish |
ModernEnglish |
|
|
Masculine/Feminine (Person) |
Nominative |
hwā |
who |
who |
|
Accusative |
hwone / hwæne |
whom |
who / whom1 |
|
|
Dative |
hwām / hwǣm |
|||
|
Instrumental |
||||
|
Genitive |
hwæs |
whos |
whose |
|
|
Neuter (Thing) |
Nominative |
hwæt |
what |
what |
|
Accusative |
hwæt |
what / whom |
||
|
Dative |
hwām / hwǣm |
|||
|
Instrumental |
hwȳ / hwon |
why |
why |
|
|
Genitive |
hwæs |
whos |
whose2 |
1 - In some dialects who is used where Formal English only allows whom, though variation among dialects must be taken into account.
2 - Usually replaced by of what (postpositioned).
First person personal pronouns
|
Case |
OldEnglish |
MiddleEnglish |
ModernEnglish |
|
|
Singular |
Nominative |
iċ |
I / ich / ik |
I |
|
Accusative |
mē / meċ |
me |
me |
|
|
Dative |
mē |
|||
|
Genitive |
mīn |
min / mi |
my, mine |
|
|
Plural |
Nominative |
wē |
we |
we |
|
Accusative |
ūs / ūsiċ |
us |
us |
|
|
Dative |
ūs |
|||
|
Genitive |
ūser / ūre |
ure / our |
our, ours |
(Old English also had a separate dual, wit ("we two") etcetera; however, no later forms derive from it.)
Second person personal pronouns
Old and Middle English singular to the Modern English archaic informal
|
Case |
OldEnglish |
MiddleEnglish |
ModernEnglish |
|
|
Singular |
Nominative |
þū |
þu / thou |
thou (you) |
|
Accusative |
þē / þeċ |
þé / thee |
thee (you) |
|
|
Dative |
þē |
|||
|
Genitive |
þīn |
þi / þīn / þīne / thy /thin / thine |
thy, thine (your) |
|
|
Plural |
Nominative |
ġē |
ye / ȝe / you |
you |
|
Accusative |
ēow / ēowiċ |
you, ya |
||
|
Dative |
ēow |
|||
|
Genitive |
ēower |
your |
your, yours |
Note that the ye/you distinction still existed, at least optionally, in Early Modern English: "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" from the King James Bible.
Here the letter þ (interchangeable with ð in manuscripts) corresponds to th.
Formal and informal forms of the second person singular and plural
|
OldEnglish |
MiddleEnglish |
ModernEnglish |
||||||||||
|
Singular |
Plural |
Singular |
Plural |
Singular |
Plural |
|||||||
|
Case |
Formal |
Informal |
Formal |
Informal |
Formal |
Informal |
Formal |
Informal |
Formal |
Informal |
Formal |
Informal |
|
Nominative |
þū |
ġē |
you |
thou |
you |
ye |
you |
|||||
|
Accusative |
þē / þeċ |
ēow / ēowiċ |
thee |
you |
||||||||
|
Dative |
þē |
ēow |
||||||||||
|
Genitive |
þīn |
ēower |
your, yours |
thy, thine |
your, yours |
your, yours |
(Old English also had a separate dual, ȝit ("ye two") etcetera; however, no later forms derive from it.)
Third person personal pronouns
|
Case |
OldEnglish |
MiddleEnglish |
ModernEnglish |
|
|
MasculineSingular |
Nominative |
hē |
he |
he |
|
Accusative |
hine |
him |
him |
|
|
Dative |
him |
|||
|
Genitive |
his |
his |
his |
|
|
FeminineSingular |
Nominative |
hēo |
heo / sche / ho / he / ȝho |
she |
|
Accusative |
hīe |
hire / hure / her / heore |
her |
|
|
Dative |
hire |
|||
|
Genitive |
hire |
hir / hire / heore / her / here |
her, hers |
|
|
NeuterSingular |
Nominative |
hit |
hit / it |
it |
|
Accusative |
hit |
hit / it / him |
||
|
Dative |
him |
|||
|
Genitive |
his |
his / its |
its |
|
|
Plural |
Nominative |
hīe |
he / hi / ho / hie / þai / þei |
they |
|
Accusative |
hīe |
hem / ham / heom / þaim / þem / þam |
them |
|
|
Dative |
him |
|||
|
Genitive |
hira |
here / heore / hore / þair / þar |
their, theirs |
(The origin of the modern forms is generally thought to have been a borrowing from Old Norse forms þæir, þæim, þæira.
The two different roots co-existed for some time, although currently the only common remnant is the shortened form 'em.
Cf. alsothedemonstrativepronouns.)