Pronouns & Demonstratives

At a glance

The key differences between Early Middle English (eME) and Modern English (ModE):

1. the third person plural pronouns are hi__ hem here (ModE they them their);
2. there are separate second person singular pronouns - t`u__ t`e__ t`i__n (dialectal/archaic ModE thou thee thy/thine);
3. there is a separate nominative form for the second person plural pronoun - y%e__ (archaic ModE ye);
4. the genitive form of it is his (ModE its);
5. the plural form of t`at is t`a__ (ModE those);
6. the plural form of t`is is t`ise (ModE these);

pronouns

eME pronouns are close in form to the ModE pronouns. The notable exceptions are the third person plural forms.

There are other differences however. ModE does not distinguish between the singular and plural in second person pronouns. you is used for both. eME had separate forms for the singular. eME also had a separate second person plural form in the nominative. These forms survived to early ModE as thou, thee, thy, ye and still exist in certain dialects. They are familiar to many more through Shakespeare and the King James Bible. Finally there is the possessive form for it. its didn't appear until the end of the 16th century.

These key differences are highlighted below in yellow:

about case - nominate, accusative, genitive and dative

Pronouns were used the same way in eME as they are in ModE. Most ModE pronouns have two separate forms - I/me, he/him, she/her, we/us, they/them. The first form in each of these pairs is known as the nominative. This is the form used when the pronoun is the subject of the verb, e.g. - I see the traitor. Here I is the subject of the verb.

The second form in each of the pairs above is known as the accusative. This is the form used when the pronoun is the object of the verb, e.g. - the traitor sees me. Here me is the object of the verb. Note the change in form - I to me

eME pronouns have two separate forms as well. In fact each eME pronoun has two forms. That is not the case for all ModE pronouns. ModE has you for both the subject and the object of the verb - you see the traitor and the traitor sees you, whereas eME has y%e__ se__n t`e swike and t`e swike se__t` y%ow.

NB - in eME, as in ModE, there is no separate form for pronouns in the dative case, i.e. - the indirect object. This is the form which follows prepositions, e.g. - to me, with him, after her etc. The same applies in eME: to__ me__, mid him, after hire etc. The indirect object form (dative) is the same as the direct object form (accusative).

The possessive forms - my, his, her, our, your, their are also known as the genitive. In ModE these forms differ slightly depending on context, i.e. whether they qualify a noun or stand alone. For example, that is my dog contrasts with that dog is mine. In eME on the other hand, there is only one form for both contexts, e.g. t`at is mi__n hund <sup>1</sup> and t`at hu__nd is mi__n.

demonstratives

The key differences are highlighted in yellow:

Interrogative & relative pronouns

The one difference between eME and ModE is highlighted below in yellow:

Note that hwa__ and hwilc are only used in an interrogative sense in eME. They don't act as relative pronouns. For the relative role of ModE who and which, eME uses either t`e or t`at, like so:

• Hwilc disc t`e__ bet listet`? Lamb and wirtes is t`e disc t`e (or t`at) me__ bet listet`.
  Which dish do you prefer? Lamb and vegetables is the dish which (or that) I prefer.
• Hwa__ is t`at wi__f? Sce__ is t`e man t`e wi__nberiy%es to__ u__re t`orp inlaedde.
  Who is that woman? She is the person who introduced grapes to our village.