Third Person

What Is Third Person? (with Examples)

The term third person refers to someone else, i.e., not the writer or a group including the writer (I, me, we, us) or the writer's audience (you). Whenever you use a noun (as opposed to pronoun), it is in the third person.

The personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they) are grouped into one of three categories:

First person: I and we
Second person: you
Third person: He/She/It and They

Note: First person refers to the speaker himself or a group that includes the speaker (i.e., I, me, we, and us). Second person refers to the speaker's audience (i.e., you).

Examples of Third Person Pronouns in Different Cases

Here are the third person pronouns in the subjective case, the objective case, and the possessive case:

Person	Subjective Case	Objective Case	Possessive Case Possessive Adjective	Possessive Case Absolute Possessive Pronouns
Third Person Singular	he / she / it Example: He is not happy.	him / her / it Example: We saw him.	his / her / its Example: We were her support.	his / hers / its These were hers.
Third Person Plural	they Example: They are leaving.	them Example: We like them.	their Example: We were their allies.	theirs These are theirs.

With third person singular, the pronouns reflect gender.

Masculine gender: He, him, his
Feminine gender: She, her, hers
Neuter gender: It, its

First, Second, and Third Person Pronouns

The table below shows the first, second, and third person pronouns. The third person pronouns are shaded.

Person	Subjective Case	Objective Case	Possessive Case Possessive Adjective	Possessive Case Absolute Possessive Pronouns
First Person Singular	I	me	my	mine
Second Person Singular	you	you	your	yours
Third Person Singular	he/she/it	him/her/it	his/her/its	his/hers/its
First Person Plural	we	us	our	ours
Second Person Singular	you	you	your	yours
Third Person Plural	they	them	their	theirs

A Quick Test

THE POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVE IS ITS NOT IT'S

The contraction it's means it is or it has.

The neuter possessive adjective is its. It is not it's.

It is a grammatical howler to confuse it's and its.

Read more about its and it's.

WRITING IN THE THIRD PERSON

If you're asked to write in the third person, use he/she/it or nouns. For example:

Marks Ltd will handle your claim within 24 hours.

When talking about yourself, using the third person presents a formal air.

WRITING IN THE FIRST PERSON

If you're asked to write in the first person, use I and we. For example:

We will handle your claim within 24 hours.

In business writing, this is useful to portray a personal touch.

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