we
- 1Used by a speaker or writer to refer to themselves together with one or more other people, whether or not including the person addressed.
My roommates and I are having a barbecue on Saturday, and we would love you to come.
My sister and I grew up here, so we know every path.
UsageUse we as the subject and us as an object. For group size, the usual wording is there are three of us.
Note
Nothing in the word itself shuts the listener out; the situation does. "We are here to arrest you" can only exclude the person spoken to. When a writer wants the boundary unmistakable, an apposition draws it: "we, the liberal and progressive people of the world." The same word also serves when the listener is included, so ambiguity is always possible, and naming the group is the cleanest fix.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- “We are here to arrest you” is an example of exclusive we. en.wiktionary.org
- The quoted apposition occurs in Paul Mason’s writing. theguardian.com
- 2Used by a speaker for a group they belong to, act for, or identify with, such as their company, newspaper, government, team, or country.
We at the Gazette stand by our reporting.
As a bank, we take fraud seriously.
UsageOften framed by the group's name: we at the Gazette, as a bank, we.
Note
A voice that belongs to the institution rather than the person: an editor, a minister or an official speaks as the paper, the government, the administration. Formal documents use the same voice, as in "we propose." Speeches frame it with "as the government, we." Unlike the royal "we", it has a real group of people behind the speaker, and it takes the ordinary reflexive ourselves.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- The official document underlying Wiktionary’s quotation says “we propose”; it does not contain “(the administration)”. legco.gov.hk
- Speeches use the formulation “as the government, we”. pap.org.sg
- 3People in general or humanity as a whole, including the speaker.
We know surprisingly little about the deep ocean.
The older we get, the faster the years seem to pass.
Note
The widest circle the word can draw is humanity, speaker included. Proverbs use it for rules nobody escapes ("we live and learn"). Science and health writing use it to make findings feel shared ("as we age, the major arteries… become thickened"). Narrow the circle to a nation, school or trade and it becomes the "we" of group membership.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- “We live and learn” is an attested proverbial expression. upload.wikimedia.org
- The health-writing quotation reproduces attested wording, with an ellipsis marking the omission. en.wiktionary.org
- 4In explanatory or procedural writing, especially mathematics, used to include the reader in the steps being worked through.
We now show that the sequence converges.
Having sanded the surface, we apply the first coat.
Note
Mathematical explanations and proofs use this voice as their standard: "we first collect all the terms in x on one side." Writer and reader are cast as working the problem together, which softens what is really an instruction. Where the presenter's "we" invites an audience to watch, this one asks the reader to carry out each step alongside the writer.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The quoted mathematical example is attested verbatim within a longer example sentence. en.wiktionary.org
- 5Used informally by a speaker to mean only themselves, as when talking to themselves or narrating their own actions to an audience.
Filming herself on her solo hike, the vlogger said, “Now we head up to the waterfall.”
Recalling her first solo flight, the pilot said, “So we take off, and my hands are shaking.”
Note
A presenter's "we" invites the audience along on something only the speaker does: "first we take 200 g of butter." It runs through cooking videos, survival shows and campaign speeches. It can even cover a purely private event, as in "we had a stroke back in May." It is a cousin of the plural of modesty, by which a writer avoids "I", and of the textbook "we".
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The quoted words “we had a stroke back in May” are attested: Wiktionary attributes them to John Fetterman in a PBS NewsHour broadcast. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 6Used before a noun to mark the speaker or speakers as belonging to or making up the named group.
We the people of this town will not be ignored.
Nobody asked what we drivers thought of the new tolls.
UsageUse we + noun as the subject: we teachers are tired. Use us + noun as an object: ask us teachers, for us teachers.
Note
Pronoun and noun fuse into one phrase: the pronoun names the speakers and the noun says what they are, as in "we Canadians" or "we mothers." "We the undersigned" is the formula of petitions and declarations.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- “We the undersigned” is a formula used in petitions. portal.ct.gov
- “We the undersigned” is a formula used in declarations. capetowndeclaration.org
- 7Used to mean 'you' when addressing one person or a group, often by someone in charge such as a nurse or teacher, sometimes patronizingly ('How are we today?').
And how are we today? Any pain in the knee?
Now, we mustn't touch the stove, must we?
UsageWith adults it often sounds like talking down; how are you feeling? is the safer question.
Note
The bedside plural is old: Dickens has a doctor greet a patient with "and how are we?" in 1834. It is meant as solidarity, the carer sharing the patient's situation. Adults often hear it as talking down, though, especially when it carries a rebuke: "we need to get our priorities straight."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The Dickens story containing the bedside-plural example was first published in 1834. en.wikipedia.org
- Dickens gives the words “and how are we?” to the doctor Wosky, addressing his patient Mrs. Bloss. gutenberg.org
- 8Used by a sovereign to refer to themselves alone when speaking as monarch.
We ourself will lead the army into France.
By these presents we do appoint our trusty cousin lieutenant of the shire.
Note
Here the plural stands for the office, not a crowd: the monarch speaks as the crown. Its grammar marks the difference. The reflexive can be the singular ourself ("we ourself will lead the army"), while ordinary plural uses of the pronoun take ourselves. It belongs to proclamations, charters and formal royal speech. Borrowed by anyone else, it reads as grandiose.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Royal “we” has a corresponding singular form “ourself”. gutenberg.org
- Ourself also occurs with editorial we and other uses referring to one person; it is not exclusive to the royal we. en.wiktionary.org
- 9A third person, especially someone in the speaker's care, spoken of as if including the speaker.
Ask the carer how Dad is and she'll say we've had a quiet week.
The vet called: we are eating again and much brighter.
Note
An uncommon stretch of the nurse's "we": the carer now answers for a patient who is not part of the conversation. Asked "how is she?", the reply "we aren't too good today" reports on someone else entirely. Because the plural points at a third person, it can puzzle a listener who does not know the speaker's role.
- 10In some regional dialects, used as the object form, meaning us.
Don't 'ee leave we behind, Jack.
The squire gave we a shilling apiece.
UsageIn standard English, use us as the object of a verb or preposition: give us a hand, come with us.
Note
A dialect use, still heard on Tyneside and archaic in the West Country, in which the subject form does the object's work: "the squire gave we a shilling."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Object-form we is documented in Tyneside English. en.wiktionary.org
- 11Used by a lone author or speaker instead of I, chiefly in scholarly writing, to make the voice less personal and less self-centered.
In this dissertation we propose a new model of coastal erosion.
As the study's sole author, Dr. Ruiz still wrote, "We found no significant link between the two variables."
UsageFollow your course or journal's style rules: some prefer I when there is only one author.
Note
One person stands behind this we, and the useful skill is telling it from its neighbors on the same page. In a single-author paper, we found or we propose means the author alone, while we now see that usually invites the reader along, as in the walk-through of a proof. Neither is the editorial we, where a writer speaks for a whole publication.
- 12In bridge scoring, the side keeping the score, as opposed to they, the opponents; also the heading of that side's column on the score sheet.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
This word comes from Middle English "we," from Old English "wē," going back through Proto-Germanic to the Proto-Indo-European root "*wéy" ("we"). It is related to Dutch "we"/"wij," German "wir," and the Scandinavian "vi."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- English we comes through Middle English we from Old English wē. en.wiktionary.org
- Its ancestry extends through Proto-Germanic to Proto-Indo-European *wéy, meaning we. en.wiktionary.org
- English we is related to Dutch we and wij, German wir, and Scandinavian vi. en.wiktionary.org