GrammatikPersönliche

A personal pronoun (ли́чное местоиме́ние) is a small word that stands in for a noun - a person or a thing - so you do not have to repeat it. English has I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they; Russian has a matching set:

он, она́, оно́ and grammatical gender

Surprise! In English he/she is used for male/female people or animals, and it is used for almost every object. But Russian has no neutral “it” for things - instead, a thing is replaced by он, она́ or оно́ according to the grammatical gender of the noun, not according to whether it is alive.

• Где журна́л? - Он на столе́. (Where is the magazine? - It is on the table.) — журна́л is masculine, so “it” is он.
• Где кни́га? - Она́ на столе́. (Where is the book? - It is on the table.) — кни́га is feminine, so “it” is она́.
• Где письмо́? - Оно́ на столе́. (Where is the letter? - It is on the table.) — письмо́ is neuter, so “it” is оно́.

So он does not always mean “he”, and она́ does not always mean “she”. For a lifeless object they simply mean “it”, depending on the noun’s ending. In the plural everything merges into a single они́ anyway as there is no gender in the plural.

The full declension

Like nouns, personal pronouns change their form for each of the six cases. These forms are irregular and simply have to be learned, but they are among the most useful words in the language, so they repay the effort. Learn them one case at a time.

A few things worth noticing:

• The genitive and accusative are identical for every personal pronoun. One less thing to learn.
• он and оно́ share all their non-nominative forms.
• The instrumental forms мной, тобо́й, е́ю have longer twins мно́ю, тобо́ю, е́ю that mean exactly the same thing. The shorter forms are the everyday one so if you are just starting out, you can ignore the longer forms for now.

The н- rule for он, она́, они́

When a 3rd-person pronoun (он, она́, оно́, они́) stands after a preposition, it gets an extra н- at the front. This happens for any case and the prepositional always comes with a preposition, so it always carries the н- (о нём, о ней, о них):

So the same pronoun has two forms depending on whether a preposition sits in front of it:

• его́ → у него́ (he has… / at his place), для него́ (for him)
• ей → к ней (to her), с ней (with her)
• их → у них (they have… / at their place), для них (for them)

This н- only ever attaches to он, она́, оно́, они́. The other pronouns never take it: у меня́, к тебе́, с на́ми, о вас stay exactly the same after a preposition.

Double duty of его́ / её / их

This н- rule is important because the words его́, её, их (which are forms of он, она́, оно́, они́) also exist as possessive pronouns. As personal pronouns they mean “him/her/them”; but as possessive words they mean “his / her / their”. The possessive words never take н-, so in a text it's easy to see which it is. Compare:

• У него́ кни́га. (He has a book.) — pronoun after у, so н-.
• Э́то его́ кни́га. (This is his book.) — possessive “his”, so no н-.
• Я был у неё. (I was at her place.) vs Я взял её кни́гу. (I took her book.)

So у его́ is always wrong when you mean “he has”; it must be у него́. But его́ дом (his house) is correct with no н-.

ты and вы: informal and formal “you”

Russian, like many European languages, distinguishes two ways of saying “you”:

Use вы with anyone you do not know well, anyone noticeably older, and in any professional setting. Switching to ты is a small social step that the older or more senior person usually offers first (дава́й на «ты», let’s use “ты”).

In polite letters and formal writing, the singular “you” is often capitalised as Вы and Вам, Вас etc. as a sign of respect to the individual reader. This capital is only used for one addressed person, never for a genuine plural.

For more info on formality, also see our guide on Verbs Formality.

Dropping the subject pronoun

Because Russian verb endings already show the person, the subject pronoun can often be left out much more freely than in English. This is common in answers, commands and casual speech:

• Что де́лаешь? - Чита́ю. (What are you doing? - [I’m] reading.) — чита́ю can only be “I”, so я is unnecessary and left out.
• Иди́ сюда́! (Come here!) — a command doesn't need ты.
• Не зна́ю. (I don't know.) — the pronoun is left out because я is implied.

You still use the pronoun when you want to emphasise or contrast who does something: Я зна́ю, а он не зна́ет. (I know, but he doesn't.) With the past tense, where the verb doesn't show the person, the pronoun is kept more often, for example чита́л could be “I / you / he read”.

Common mistakes

• Choosing “it” by meaning instead of gender. A table is он, a book is она́ — pick the pronoun from the noun’s gender.
• Using ты with a stranger or an elder. When in doubt, use вы.
• Forgetting the н- after a preposition.
  у его́, к ей, с ими (wrong) → у него́, к ней, с ни́ми (correct)
• Adding н- to a possessive. The possessive “his/her/their” never changes.
  него́ дом (wrong) → его́ дом (correct - his house)
• Using the wrong case after a preposition. Each preposition demands a case.
  у я, для ты (wrong) → у меня́, для тебя́ (correct)

Related pronouns

Personal pronouns are only one family. Once these are comfortable, look at the reflexive pronoun себя́ (oneself), the possessive pronouns мой, твой, наш… and the special свой, and the interrogative and relative pronouns кто, что, кото́рый.

Summary

• The eight personal pronouns are я, ты, он, она́, оно́, мы, вы, они́.
• A thing becomes он / она́ / оно́ by the noun’s grammatical gender, not by whether it is alive.
• They decline through all six cases; and genitive and accusative are always identical.
• After a preposition, он / она́ / оно́ / они́ gain н-: у него́, к ней, с ни́ми, о них.
• The possessives его́, её, их never take н-: его́ дом, not него́ дом.
• вы is formal or plural; ты is informal and singular. Capital Вы is a written politeness.
• The subject pronoun can be dropped when the verb already makes the person clear.