Hear it pronouncedthey
Definitions from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
(Redirected from They)
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[ English
| Rank of this word in the English language, from analyzing texts from Project Gutenberg. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| all | him | she | #33: they | my | were | are |
[ Etymology
Middle English, borrowed from Old Norse þeir—nominative plural masculine of the demonstrative, which acted in Old Norse as a plural pronoun—from Proto-Germanic *thai (“‘those’”), from Proto-Indo-European *to- (“‘that’”).
Cognate to Old English þā, and Swedish/Danish/Norwegian de (“‘they’”).
[ Pronunciation
[ Pronoun
they personal pronoun; the third person, nominative case, usually plural, but sometimes used in the singular when the gender is unknown or irrelevant (objective case them, possessive their, possessive noun theirs, reflexive plural themselves, reflexive singular themself)
- (the third person plural) A group of others previously mentioned.
- Fred and Jane? They just arrived.
- (the third person singular, disputed) A single person, previously mentioned, but of unknown or irrelevant gender.
- Have you ever seen someone while they are on their deathbed?
- (indefinite pronoun, vague meaning) People; some people; someone.
- They say it’s a good place to live.
- They didn’t have computers in the old days.
- They should do something about this.
[ Usage notes
- For centuries, they has been used with a singular antecedent; however, many condemn this usage for its violation of traditional agreement rules. Writers should only use this construction if they are sure it will be viewed as an intentional choice, rather than an error. See singular they for a more in-depth discussion.
- When the sex of the person referred to is known or clear, as there is no need to use they, it is preferable to use gender-specific pronouns instead. For example:
- The doctor's advice to a pregnant woman is that she should take folic acid during her pregnancy.
- which is preferable to
- The doctor's advice to a pregnant woman is that they should take folic acid during their pregnancy.
- Another indefinite pronoun is one, but the two words do not mean thee same and are rarely interchangeable.
[ Translations
third-person plural pronoun
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third-person singular, of unknown or irrelevant gender
one, people, some people