3.2 Personal, demonstrative, and interrogative pronouns

Old English pronouns carry a lot of grammatical weight. Because Old English is a heavily inflected language, pronouns change form depending on their role in a sentence, and you need to recognize those forms to read and translate accurately.

This section covers the three main pronoun types: personal (I, you, he, etc.), demonstrative (this, that), and interrogative (who, what). Each type declines across multiple cases, and some share forms that can trip you up if you're not paying attention.

Personal, Demonstrative, and Interrogative Pronouns in Old English

Forms of Old English personal pronouns

Old English personal pronouns distinguish person (first, second, third), number (singular, plural), and case (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative). Third person singular pronouns also distinguish gender. Unlike Modern English, where "you" does all the work, Old English has distinct forms for nearly every combination.

A few things to watch for as you study these forms: the accusative and dative sometimes overlap (especially mē and þē, which serve double duty), and the third person neuter and masculine share genitive (his) and dative (him) forms.

First person singular

• Nominative: ic (I)
• Accusative: mec or mē (me, as direct object)
• Genitive: mīn (my, mine)
• Dative: mē (to/for me)

Second person singular

• Nominative: þū (you)
• Accusative: þec or þē (you, as direct object)
• Genitive: þīn (your, yours)
• Dative: þē (to/for you)

Third person singular masculine

• Nominative: hē (he)
• Accusative: hine (him, as direct object)
• Genitive: his (his)
• Dative: him (to/for him)

Third person singular feminine

• Nominative: hēo (she)
• Accusative: hīe (her, as direct object)
• Genitive: hire (her, hers)
• Dative: hire (to/for her)

Third person singular neuter

• Nominative/Accusative: hit (it)
• Genitive: his (its)
• Dative: him (to/for it)

Notice that the neuter his and him are identical to the masculine forms. Context and the noun they refer to will tell you which gender is meant.

First person plural

• Nominative: wē (we)
• Accusative: ūsic or ūs (us)
• Genitive: ūre or ūser (our, ours)
• Dative: ūs (to/for us)

Second person plural

• Nominative: gē (you all)
• Accusative: ēowic or ēow (you all, as direct object)
• Genitive: ēower (your, yours, plural)
• Dative: ēow (to/for you all)

Third person plural (all genders)

• Nominative/Accusative: hīe (they/them)
• Genitive: hira or heora (their, theirs)
• Dative: him or heom (to/for them)

The third person plural dative him is identical to the third person singular masculine/neuter dative. Again, context is your guide.

Demonstrative vs. interrogative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns point to specific people or things. Old English has two sets, roughly equivalent to Modern English "that" and "this":

• "That" series: se (masculine), sēo (feminine), þæt (neuter)
• "This" series: þes (masculine), þēos (feminine), þis (neuter)

The se/sēo/þæt set also functions as the definite article ("the"), which is why you'll see it constantly in Old English prose. Whether it means "that" or "the" depends on context.

Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions:

• hwā (who) refers to people
• hwæt (what) refers to things or concepts
• hwelc (which) asks for a specific choice among several options
• hwæðer (which of two) asks for a choice between exactly two options

You can see the family resemblance to Modern English: hwā → who, hwæt → what, hwelc → which. The initial hw- cluster shifted to wh- over time.

Declension of Old English pronouns

These declension tables are worth memorizing. The demonstrative se/sēo/þæt in particular appears everywhere in Old English texts.

Demonstrative pronoun: se (masc.), sēo (fem.), þæt (neut.)

Singular:

Plural (all genders):

Notice that the plural collapses gender distinctions entirely. Also note that the feminine singular uses þǣre for genitive, dative, and instrumental.

The instrumental case is worth flagging: it doesn't exist for personal pronouns or most nouns in Old English, but it survives in the demonstrative and interrogative paradigms. It expresses means or manner ("by that," "by what").

Interrogative pronoun: hwā (who), hwæt (what)

The genitive, dative, and instrumental forms are shared between hwā and hwæt. The only place they differ is in the nominative and accusative. Also note that the instrumental hwȳ/hwī is the ancestor of Modern English "why."

Application of pronouns in sentences

Seeing these pronouns in actual Old English sentences helps you connect the paradigm tables to real usage.

Personal pronouns:

• Ic hine geseah. (I saw him.) — hine is the accusative masculine singular, functioning as the direct object of geseah (saw).
• Hēo spræc tō him. (She spoke to him.) — him is the dative masculine singular, used here as the object of the preposition tō.

Demonstrative pronouns:

• Se cyning wæs gōd. (That/The king was good.) — Se is the nominative masculine singular, agreeing with cyning (king). This could be translated as "that king" or "the king."
• Þēos bōc is mīn. (This book is mine.) — Þēos is the nominative feminine singular, agreeing with bōc (book), which is a feminine noun.

Interrogative pronouns:

• Hwā is þǣr? (Who is there?) — Hwā is the nominative interrogative, asking about a person.
• Hwæt sægest þū? (What are you saying?) — Hwæt is the accusative neuter interrogative, functioning as the direct object of sægest (you say).

When translating, your first step should always be identifying the case of the pronoun, then figuring out its grammatical role in the sentence. The case form tells you whether the pronoun is a subject, direct object, indirect object, or possessor.