# them

Pronunciation: say "THEM" /ˈðɛm/

## Pronoun

1. The object form of 'they', used after a verb or preposition for people or things already mentioned.
   - Simple: Used instead of 'they' after a verb or a word like 'to' or 'with', for people or things already talked about.
   - _The coach praised them after the match._
   - _We invited them to dinner._
2. Used for one person, not a group, already mentioned whose gender is unknown or irrelevant, or, in twenty-first-century use, who is nonbinary; the object form of singular they.
   - Simple: Used for one person already mentioned whose gender you don't know or don't need to say, or who is nonbinary.
   - _When the new manager starts on Monday, I'll introduce them to the team._
   - _A customer forgot an umbrella, so the clerk ran out to the parking lot after them._
4. 'They' or 'those' as a subject, in dialect or in informal set phrases ('them's the rules', 'them's fighting words'); in older English also 'those' before a that clause ('them that fear him'). *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: Used to mean 'they' or 'those' in dialect or in set phrases like 'them's the rules'.
   - _Them's fighting words where I come from._
   - _"Out here," the old farmer said, "them that don't work don't eat."_

## Determiner

3. Those, used before a noun. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: Used to mean 'those' in dialect, as in 'them boots'.
   - _Them shoes are too small for you._
   - _Who left them bags in the hall?_

## Origin

Old Norse 'þeim' is the source; it reached English by way of Middle English 'þem'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/them (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).