View source for Grammatical person

{{Short description|Grammatical category}}
{{See also|Narrative mode}}
{{Redirect-several|link=off|dab=off|text=like "first person singular" and "second-person plural"|{{Section link||Works}}}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2019}}
{{Grammatical categories}}
In [[linguistics]], '''grammatical person''' is the grammatical distinction between [[deixis|deictic]] references to participant(s) in an event; typically, the distinction is between the speaker ([[First-person narrative|first person]]), the addressee ([[Second-person narrative|second person]]), and others ([[Third-person narrative|third person]]). A language's set of [[pronoun]]s is typically defined by grammatical person. ''First person'' includes the speaker (English: ''I'', ''we''), ''second person'' is the person or people spoken to (English: ''your'' or ''you''), and ''third person'' includes all that are not listed above (English: ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', ''they'').<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tonvanhattum.com.br/material/grmpersn.html|first=Ton van|last=Hattum|title=First, Second, Third Person: Grammatical Person|date=2006|website=Ton van Hattum}}</ref> It also frequently affects [[verb]]s, and sometimes [[noun]]s or [[genitive case|possessive]] relationships.

==Related classifications==

===Number===
{{Main|Grammatical number}}

In [[Indo-European languages]], first-, second-, and third-person pronouns are typically also marked for [[Grammatical number|singular]] and [[plural]] forms, and sometimes [[dual grammatical number|dual]] form as well ([[grammatical number]]).

===Inclusive/exclusive distinction===
{{Main|Clusivity}}

Some other languages use different classifying systems, especially in the plural pronouns. One frequently found difference not present in most Indo-European languages is a contrast between [[inclusive and exclusive we|inclusive and exclusive "we"]]: a distinction of first-person plural pronouns between including or excluding the addressee.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Filimonova |first1=Elena |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=--uyimDWbJoC |title=Clusivity: Typology and Case Studies of Inclusive-exclusive Distinction |date=2005 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |isbn=978-90-272-2974-8}}{{pn|date=December 2022}}</ref>

===Honorifics===
{{Main|Honorifics (linguistics)}}

Many languages express person with different [[morphemes]] in order to distinguish degrees of formality and informality. A simple honorific system common among European languages is the [[T–V distinction]]. Some other languages have much more elaborate systems of formality that go well beyond the T–V distinction, and use many different pronouns and verb forms that express the speaker's relationship with the people they are addressing. Many [[Malayo-Polynesian languages]], such as [[Javanese language|Javanese]] and [[Balinese language|Balinese]], are well known for their complex systems of [[honorific]]s; [[Japanese language|Japanese]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Itoh |first1=Keiko |chapter=Japanese Honorifics |pages=x-xi |jstor=j.ctt1s17nnj.5 |doi=10.1515/9781898823414-003 |doi-access=free |title=My Shanghai, 1942-1946 |year=2016 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-1-898823-41-4 }}</ref> [[Korean language|Korean]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Byon |first1=Andrew Sangpil |title=Teaching Korean honorifics |journal=The Korean Language in America |date=2000 |volume=5 |pages=275–289 |jstor=42922325 }}</ref> and [[Chinese language|Chinese]] also have similar systems to a lesser extent.

==Effect on verbs==
{{Main|Grammatical conjugation}}

In many languages, the [[verb]] takes a form dependent on the person of the subject and whether it is singular or plural. In [[English language|English]], this happens with the verb ''to be'' as follows:
* I ''am'' (first-person singular)
* you ''are''/thou ''art'' (second-person singular)
* he, she, one, it ''is'' (third-person singular)
* we ''are'' (first-person plural)
* you ''are''/ye ''are'' (second-person plural)
* they ''are'' (third-person plural, and third-person singular)

Other verbs in English take the suffix ''-s'' to mark the present tense third person singular, excluding singular 'they'.

In many languages, such as [[French conjugation|French]], the verb in any given tense takes a different suffix for any of the various combinations of person and number of the subject.

==Additional persons==
The grammar of some languages divide the semantic space into more than three persons. The extra categories may be termed ''fourth person'', ''fifth person'', etc. Such terms are not absolute but can refer, depending on context, to any of several phenomena.

Some [[Algonquian languages]] and [[Salishan languages]] divide the category of third person into two parts: ''proximate'' for a more [[Topic and comment|topical]] third person, and ''[[obviative]]'' for a less topical third person.<ref name=Harrigan>{{cite journal |last1=Harrigan |first1=Atticus G. |last2=Schmirler |first2=Katherine |last3=Arppe |first3=Antti |last4=Antonsen |first4=Lene |last5=Trosterud |first5=Trond |last6=Wolvengrey |first6=Arok |title=Learning from the computational modelling of Plains Cree verbs |journal=Morphology |date=November 2017 |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=565–598 |doi=10.1007/s11525-017-9315-x |s2cid=10649070 }}</ref> The obviative is sometimes called the fourth person. In this manner, [[Hindi]] and [[Bengali language|Bangla]] may also categorize pronouns in the fourth, and with the latter a fifth person.<ref>{{Citation |title=Linguistics: Stack Exchange |url=https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/7164/is-there-a-language-without-gender-in-third-person-pronouns}}{{Self-published source|date=August 2025}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|certain=y|date=August 2025}}{{clarify|date=December 2023}} 

The term in [[Finnic languages]], [[Grammatical voice#Finnic languages|fourth person]] is also sometimes used for the category of indefinite or generic referents, which work like ''one'' in English phrases such as "one should be prepared" or ''people'' in "people say that...", when the grammar treats them differently from ordinary third-person forms.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} The so-called "zero person"<ref name=Laitinen>{{cite journal |last1=Laitinen |first1=Lea |title=Zero person in Finnish: A grammatical resource for construing human reference |journal=Current Issues in Linguistic Theory |date=2006 |volume=277 |pages=209–231 |doi=10.1075/cilt.277.15lai }}</ref><ref name=Leinonen>{{cite journal |last1=Leinonen |first1=Marja |title=Generic zero subjects in Finnish and Russian |journal=Scando-Slavica |date=January 1983 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=143–161 |doi=10.1080/00806768308600841 }}</ref> in [[Finnish language|Finnish]] and related languages, in addition to passive [[Voice (grammar)|voice]], may serve to leave the subject-referent open. Zero person subjects are sometimes translated as "one", although in tone it is similar to English's [[generic you]]; "{{Lang|fi|Ei saa koskettaa}}" ("Not allowed to touch", "You should not touch").

==English personal pronouns in the nominative case==
{| class="wikitable"
! Pronoun
! Person and number
! Gender
|-
! colspan="3" | Standard
|-
| [[I (pronoun)|I]]
| First-person singular
|
|-
| [[we]]
| First-person plural
|
|-
| [[you]]
| Second-person singular or second-person plural
|
|-
| [[he (pronoun)|he]]
| Third-person [[preferred gender pronoun|masculine]] singular
| masculine
|-
| [[she (pronoun)|she]]
| Third-person [[preferred gender pronoun|feminine]] singular
| feminine
|-
| [[it (pronoun)|it]]
| Third-person [[preferred gender pronoun|neuter]] (and inanimate) singular
| neuter
|-
| [[they (pronoun)|they]]
| Third-person [[plural]] or [[gender-neutral pronoun|gender-neutral]] [[singular they|singular]]
| epicene
|-
! colspan="3" | Dialectal
|-
| [[I (pronoun)|me]]
| First-person singular, dialectal [[Caribbean English]] and colloquial special uses
|
|-
| [[thou|thee]]
| Second-person singular, literary, dialectal Yorkshire, and occasional use by [[Quakers]]
|
|-
| [[allyuh]]
| Second-person plural, many [[English-based creole languages]], dialectal [[Caribbean English]]
|
|-
| unu
| Second-person plural, many [[English-based creole languages]], dialectal [[Caribbean English]]
|
|-
| [[y'all]]
| Second-person plural, dialectal [[Southern American English|Southern American]], [[Texan English]], and [[African-American English]]
|
|-
| [[ye (pronoun)|ye]]
| Second-person plural, dialectal [[Hiberno-English]] and [[Newfoundland English]]
|
|-
| [[yinz]]
| Second-person plural, [[Scots language|Scots]], dialectal [[Scottish English]], [[Pittsburgh English]]
|
|-
| [[you guys]]
| Second-person plural, dialectal [[American English]] and [[Canadian English]]
|
|-
| you(r) lot
| Second-person plural, dialectal [[British English]]
|
|-
| yous(e)
| Second-person plural, [[Australian English]], many urban American dialects like [[New York City English]] and [[Inland Northern American English|Chicago English]], as well as [[Ottawa Valley English]]. Sporadic usage in some British English dialects, such as [[Manchester dialect|Mancunian]]. Also used by some speakers of Hiberno-English.
|
|-
| [[your]]se
| Second-person plural, [[Scots language|Scots]], dialect [[Central Lowlands|Central Scottish Lowlands]], [[Scouse]], [[Cumbrian]], [[Tyneside]], Hiberno English.
|
|-
| us
| First-person plural subject, as in, ''us guys are going...''
|
|-
| them
| Third-person plural subject, as in, ''them girls drove...''
|
|-
! colspan="3" | Archaic
|-
| [[thou]]
| Second-person singular informal subject
|
|-
| [[ye (pronoun)|ye]]
| Second-person plural
|
|}

==See also==
===Grammar===
* [[English personal pronouns]]
* [[Fourth wall]]
* [[Gender-neutral pronoun]]
* [[Generic antecedents]]
* [[Generic you]]
* [[Grammatical conjugation]]
* [[Grammatical number]]
* [[Illeism]]
* [[Personal pronoun]]
* [[Preferred gender pronoun]]
* [[Singular they]]
* [[Verb]]

===Works===
* ''First Person Singular'' {{Section link|First Person Singular (disambiguation)|Literature|Film and television|nopage=yes}}
* ''[[First Person Plural]]'', a book by Cameron West
* ''[[Second Person Singular]]'', a book by [[Sayed Kashua]]
* ''[[Third Person Singular Number]]'', a film by [[Mostofa Sarwar Farooki]]
* ''[[Third Person Plural]]'', a film directed by [[James Ricketson]] and starring [[Bryan Brown]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|grammatical person}}
* {{cite book|last=de Gaynesford|first = Robert Maximillian|title=I: The Meaning of the First Person Term|year=2006|place=[[Oxford]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|author-link=Robert Maximilian de Gaynesford}}
* {{citation|work=Grammatical Features Inventory|url= http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/features/morphosyntactic/person/|title=person |year= 2008|doi=10.15126/SMG.18/1.03|last1= Kibort|first1= Anna}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Grammatical conjugation|Person]]
[[Category:Grammatical categories|Person]]