they
A1Meanings
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1
pron
3rd person nominative singular pronoun, indicating a person who is hypothetical or whose identity is unknown; used with plural verbs
Please tell the person whose car is parked in front of the store that they need to move it.
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2
pron
3rd person nominative singular gender-neutral pronoun, indicating a specific person without specifying a male or female gender, or indicating a person who is genderqueer; used with plural verbs
This is my housemate, Robin; they live on the 3rd floor.
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3
pron
the 3rd person nominative plural pronoun; can stand in for any 3rd person nominative plural noun
They brought their dogs to the park.
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4
pron
A group of entities previously mentioned.
Fred and Jane? They just arrived.
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5
pron
A single person, previously mentioned, whose gender is unknown, irrelevant, or (since 20th c.) non-binary.
Somebody requested a seat at Friday's performance but didn't say if they preferred the balcony or the floor.
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6
pron
People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker.
They say it’s a good place to live.
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7
pron
The authorities, the (power) elites, the powers that be, the establishment, the man, the system: government, police, employers, etc.
They'll tax us for the air we breathe next.
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8
det
The, those.
They rooks as you see … only coom a few year agoo.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tóy Proto-Germanic *þai Proto-Norse *ᚦᚨᛁᛉ (*þaiʀ) Old Norse þeirbor. Middle English þei English they From Middle English þei, borrowed in the 1200s from Old Norse þeir, plural of the demonstrative sá which acted as a plural pronoun. Displaced native Middle English he from Old English hīe — which vowel changes had left indistinct from he (“he”) — by the 1400s, being readily incorporated alongside native words beginning with the same sound (the, that, this). Used as a singular pronoun since 1300, e.g. in the 1325 Cursor Mundi. The Norse term (whence also Icela…
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