they
Formstheys, theying, theyed
- 1The people, animals or things just mentioned or understood, used as the subject of a verb.
My parents called to say they would be late.
The neighbors waved as they drove off on their summer vacation.
UsageDo not confuse they're (they are), their coats and there. Before a noun use their; alone, theirs.
- 2One person whose gender is unknown, irrelevant, or non-binary, used as the subject and taking a plural verb.
Someone left an umbrella here, so I hope they come back for it.
Alex says they will bring their own laptop.
UsageThe verb is are or were, even for one person: they are late. Both themself and themselves occur.
Note
It comes naturally after someone and anyone, and since the early twenty-first century it has also been the pronoun of non-binary people.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Singular they has been used as a pronoun for non-binary people since the early twenty-first century. en.wikipedia.org
- 3People in general, or an unnamed group such as the authorities, not including the speaker.
They don't make cars like they used to.
If you drink and drive, they will take away your license.
UsageCommon in they say (people say) and in talk about the authorities: they're raising taxes again.
Note
A way of reporting what is said without saying who says it: they say, they tell us, they don't make 'em like they used to. No group is ever named, so nothing points back to an earlier noun, and the speaker always stands outside it. When the unnamed people are the ones in charge, it becomes the suspicious 'they' of authority, as in they are watching us.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- An unnamed organization or institution can be in view; its individual members need not be identified. ojs.utlib.ee
Less common meanings
- 4To refer to someone with the pronouns they and them, especially someone who uses 'he' or 'she'.
Nobody should they a person who has clearly stated other pronouns.
She was annoyed at being theyed in the article after clearly stating her pronouns.
Note
A verb built straight from the pronoun, and fully regular in form: theys, theying, theyed.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The pronoun is also used directly as a verb, with regular forms theys, theying and theyed. en.wiktionary.org
- 5In US dialects, including African-American Vernacular English, used as the possessive determiner 'their' before a noun.
Every one of them thinks they own house is the best.
The boys left they bikes out in the rain.
Similartheir
Note
The subject form here does the possessive's job: they father, they crimes, they kids, they timeline. It runs from 1970s reported speech to lyrics by Eminem and Drake, and on the page it marks a speaking voice. In standard prose the form is their. Some speakers also use the dialect 'there', so a single sentence can carry both.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Possessive 'they father' occurs in reported speech published in the 1970s, attributed to Mary Ellen in Arthur Hippler's Hunter's Point (1974). en.wiktionary.org
- 'They crimes' occurs in John Royal's words quoted by Mike Riegle in Gay Community News, 7 February 1988. en.wiktionary.org
- Eminem uses possessive 'they kids' in 'Sing for the Moment'. en.wiktionary.org
- Drake uses possessive 'they timeline' in 'Energy'. en.wiktionary.org
- The examples extend from 1970s reported speech to lyrics performed by Eminem and Drake. en.wiktionary.org
- 6There, especially as the empty subject of 'be' in sentences saying that something exists.
They ain't no reason to shout.
Is they any coffee left?
Similarthere
Note
A separate word that only looks like the pronoun: it is usually explained as a worn-down form of there. It fills the empty subject slot in sentences about what exists, as in they's music or they ain't nothin' wrong. It never points at a place. Writers from Riley in the late 1880s to the 2000s use it to put rural American voices on the page.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- 'They's music' occurs in James Whitcomb Riley's poem 'Romancin’', included in Pipes O' Pan at Zekesbury. gutenberg.org
- 'They ain't nothin' wrong' is an attested example, quoted from Janice Holt Giles's Hill Man. en.wiktionary.org
- 7The or those, used before a noun.
Fetch me they buckets from the barn before it gets dark.
He spent all morning down by they sheds.
Similarthose
Note
The old demonstrative survives in southern English country speech: they rooks, they gals, they boots, where standard English says those. It works only before a noun. Standing alone, they is still the pronoun (they won't). Writers of the late 1800s and early 1900s, from Sussex to Devon, used it to set down rustic voices, alongside spellings like zee and coom. Outside dialect writing it reads as an error.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Demonstrative they meaning 'the' or 'those' is historically attested and survives in southern English dialect. en.wiktionary.org
- They rooks and coom occur together in a recorded Sussex speaker's words. en.wiktionary.org
- They gals occurs in nineteenth-century literary dialect. en.wiktionary.org
- They boots occurs in early twentieth-century dialect writing associated with Devon. en.wiktionary.org
- Late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century writers represented regional speech from Sussex to Devon using demonstrative they and dialect spellings including zee and coom. en.wiktionary.org
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
From Middle English "þei", borrowed around 1200 from Old Norse "þeir", the plural of the demonstrative "sá" used as a pronoun. It displaced the native Middle English "he" (from Old English "hīe"), which sound changes had made hard to tell apart from "he", by the 1400s, fitting easily alongside native words beginning with the same sound like "the", "that", and "this". It has been used as a singular pronoun since the 1300s. The Norse word comes from Proto-Germanic "*þai" ("those"), from Proto-Indo-European "*to-" ("that").
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 10 facts
- English they descends from Middle English þei. en.wiktionary.org
- The Middle English pronoun was borrowed from Old Norse þeir around 1200. en.wikipedia.org
- Old Norse þeir was a plural form of the demonstrative sá and functioned as a pronoun. en.wiktionary.org
- The native Middle English plural pronoun he descended from Old English hīe. en.wiktionary.org
- Sound changes made the native plural pronoun difficult to distinguish from singular he; they displaced it by the 1400s. en.wiktionary.org
- Existing native words with the same initial sound facilitated the pronoun's incorporation. en.wiktionary.org
- Singular they has been used since the 1300s. en.wikipedia.org
- Old Norse þeir descends from Proto-Germanic *þai, meaning those. en.wiktionary.org
- The reconstructed ancestry extends to the Proto-Indo-European demonstrative stem *to-. en.wikipedia.org
- The Proto-Indo-European demonstrative stem *to- meant that. en.wiktionary.org
From an earlier form "the'e", from "there".
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Dialectal 'they' meaning 'there' derives from the earlier form 'the'e'. en.wiktionary.org
- The intermediate form 'the'e' derives from 'there'. en.wiktionary.org