Editing Esperanto grammar (section)

==Pronouns==
There are three types of [[pronoun]]s in Esperanto: [[personal pronoun|personal]] ''(vi'' "you"), [[demonstrative]] ''(tio'' "that", ''iu'' "someone"), and [[relative pronoun|relative]]/[[interrogative word|interrogative]] ''(kio'' "what").
According to the fifth rule<ref>[https://www.akademio-de-esperanto.org/fundamento/gramatiko_angla.html Fundamento de Esperanto<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> of the ''Fundamento de Esperanto'':
{{Blockquote
|text= 5. The personal pronouns are: ''mi'', "I"; ''vi'', "thou", "you"; ''li'', "he"; ''ŝi'', "she"; ''ĝi'', "it"; ''si'', "self"; ''ni'', "we"; ''ili'', "they"; ''oni'', "one", "people", (French "on").
|author=L. L. Zamenhof |title= |source=''Fundamento de Esperanto'' (1905)
}}

===Personal pronouns===
<!-- This section is linked from [[Grammatical gender]] -->
The Esperanto '''[[personal pronoun]]''' system is similar to that of English, but with the addition of a [[reflexive pronoun]].
{| class=wikitable
|+ Personal pronouns
! colspan=2 | !! singular !! plural
|-
! colspan=2 | first person
| '''mi''' (I) || '''ni''' (we)
|-
! colspan=2 | second person
| colspan=2 align=center | '''vi''' (you){{ref|1|<sup>1</sup>}}
|-
! rowspan=3 | third<br/>person{{ref|2|<sup>2</sup>}} !! masculine
| '''li''' (he) || rowspan=3 | '''ili''' (they)
|-
! feminine
| '''ŝi''' (she)
|-
! neutral<!--not neuter according to Zamenhof-->
| '''ĝi''' (it)
|-
! colspan=2 | indefinite
| colspan=2 align=center | '''oni''' (one, [[generic they|they]], [[generic you|you]])
|-
! colspan=2 | reflexive
| colspan=2 align=center | '''si''' (self)
|}

{{note|1|<sup>1</sup>}} Zamenhof introduced a singular second-person pronoun ''ci'', to be used in translations from languages where the [[T–V distinction]] was important, but he discouraged its use.<ref name="Lingvaj_Respondoj_28"/> He added it in the ''Dua Libro'' in 1888 clarifying that "this word is only found in the dictionary; in the language itself it is hardly ever used",<ref name="Dua_Libro"/> and excluded it from the list of pronouns in the ''Fundamento''.<ref name="Fundamento"/> To this day, it is standard to use only ''vi'' regardless of number or formality.<ref name="PMEG"/><ref name="Eventoj"/>

{{note|2|<sup>2</sup>}} An unofficial gender-neutral third person singular pronoun ''[[Ri (pronoun)|ri]]'' has become relatively popular since about 2010, mostly among younger speakers. It is used when the gender of the referent is unknown or to be ignored.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.reta-vortaro.de/revo/dlg/index-1g.html#ri.0 |title=ri |website=[[Reta Vortaro]] |access-date=2021-05-27 |quote=Ĝis ĉirkaŭ 2010 ĝi restis malofte uzata eksperimentaĵo, sed post 2010 ĝia uzado signife pliiĝis, ĉefe en junularaj rondoj en okcidentaj landoj.|trans-quote=Until about 2010 it remained rarely used and experimental, but after 2010 its use increased significantly, mainly among youth in western countries.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://bertilow.com/pmeg/gramatiko/pronomoj/tria.html#j-5tb |title=Tria persono: Ri° |last=Wennergren |first=Bertilo |website=Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko |access-date=2021-05-26 |quote=“Riismo” estas tamen jam sufiĉe disvastiĝinta, precipe inter junuloj, kaj multaj, kiuj mem neniam uzas ri aŭ ria, tamen komprenas la novajn vortojn.|trans-quote=However, “Riism” has already spread a lot, mainly among young people, and many who never use ri or ria themselves still understand the new words.}}</ref> While the speakers that use the pronoun are a minority as of 2020, it is widely understood by active users of Esperanto.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://lingvakritiko.com/2020/05/12/la-efektiva-uzado-de-seksneutralaj-pronomoj-lau-empiria-esplorstudo/ |title= La efektiva uzado de seksneŭtralaj pronomoj laŭ empiria esplorstudo |last=Kramer |first=Markos |date=12 May 2020 |website= Lingva Kritiko |access-date= 27 May 2021 |trans-title= The actual use of gender-neutral pronouns according to an empirical research study|language=eo|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130170049/https://lingvakritiko.com/2020/05/12/la-efektiva-uzado-de-seksneutralaj-pronomoj-lau-empiria-esplorstudo/|archive-date=30 November 2020|quote=La rezultoj de ĉi tiu studo indikas, ke la relative nova seksneŭtrala pronomo ri jam estas vaste komprenata inter aktivaj uzantoj de Esperanto, [...]|trans-quote=The results of this study indicate that the relatively new gender neutral pronoun ri is already widely understood among active users of Esperanto}}</ref> Its opponents often object that any new pronoun is an unacceptable change to the basic rules and paradigms formulated in the ''Fundamento''.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://bertilow.com/pmeg/gramatiko/pronomoj/tria.html#j-5tb |title=Tria persono: Ri° |last=Wennergren |first=Bertilo |website=Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko |access-date=2021-05-27 |quote=Aliflanke iuj forte kontraŭas la novajn pronomojn, opiniante, ke tia uzo estas neakceptebla reformo de la lingvo.|trans-quote=On the other side some people strongly oppose the new pronouns, having the opinion that such use is an unacceptable reform of the language.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://lingvakritiko.com/2020/05/12/la-efektiva-uzado-de-seksneutralaj-pronomoj-lau-empiria-esplorstudo/ |title= La efektiva uzado de seksneŭtralaj pronomoj laŭ empiria esplorstudo |last=Kramer |first=Markos |date=12 May 2020 |website= Lingva Kritiko |access-date= 27 May 2021 |trans-title= The actual use of gender-neutral pronouns according to an empirical research study|language=eo|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130170049/https://lingvakritiko.com/2020/05/12/la-efektiva-uzado-de-seksneutralaj-pronomoj-lau-empiria-esplorstudo/|archive-date=30 November 2020|quote=la sola sufiĉe bone motivita argumento por nomi la uzon de ri kontraŭ-Fundamenta (...) tamen alfrontas plurajn problemojn|trans-quote=the only sufficiently well-motivated argument for saying the use of ri is in opposition with the Fundamento (...) still faces multiple problems}}</ref> Zamenhof himself proposed using ''ĝi'' in such situations; the common opposition to referring to people with gender-neutral ''ĝi'' today is primarily due to the traditional ubiquity of ''li'' or ''ŝi'' for people and of ''ĝi'' for non-human animals and inanimate objects.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://lingvakritiko.com/2015/01/31/seksa-egaligo-en-la-lingvo-laufundamente/ |title= Seksa egaligo en la lingvo – laŭfundamente |author= Cyril Brosch |date= 31 January 2015 |access-date= 27 May 2021 |website= Lingva Kritiko |trans-title= Gender equality in the language &ndash; following the ''Fundamento'' }}</ref>

{{note|3|<sup>3</sup>}} A proposed specifically feminine plural pronoun ''[[wiktionary:iŝi#Esperanto|iŝi]]'' was proposed by Kálmán Kalocsay and Gaston Waringhien to better translate languages with gendered plural pronouns.<ref>''Plena Gramatiko de Esperanto,'' 3rd ed., pp 72-73, note 1</ref>

Personal pronouns take the [[accusative]] suffix ''-n'' as nouns do: ''min'' (me), ''lin'' (him), ''ŝin'' (her). [[Possessive adjective]]s are formed with the adjectival suffix ''-a: mia'' (my), ''ĝia'' (its), ''nia'' (our). These agree with their noun like any other [[adjective]]: ''ni salutis liajn amikojn'' (we greeted his friends). Esperanto does not have separate forms for the [[possessive pronoun]]s; this sense is generally (though not always) indicated with the definite article: ''la mia'' (mine).

The [[reflexive pronoun]] is used in non-subject phrases only to refer back to the subject, usually only in the third and indefinite persons:
:''li lavis '''sin''''' "he washed (himself)"
:''ili lavis '''sin''''' "they washed themselves (or each other)"
:''li lavis lin'' "he washed ''him'' (someone else)"
:''li manĝis '''sian''' panon'' "he ate his (own) bread"
:''li manĝis lian panon'' "he ate ''his'' (someone else's) bread"

The indefinite pronoun is used when making general statements, and is often used where English would have a passive verb,
:''oni diras, ke ...'' "one says that...", "they say that ..." or "it is said that ..."
With [[impersonal verb]]s, no pronoun is used:
:''pluvas'' "it is raining".
Here the rain is falling by itself, and that idea is conveyed by the verb, so no subject pronoun is needed.

When not referring to humans, ''ĝi'' is mostly used with items that have physical bodies, with ''tiu'' or ''tio'' used otherwise. Zamenhof proposed that ''ĝi'' could also be used as an [[wikt:epicene|epicene]] (gender-neutral) third-person singular pronoun, meaning for use when the gender of an individual is unknown or for when the speaker simply doesn't wish to clarify the gender.<ref>Respondo 23, La Revuo, 1901, Aŭgusto</ref> However, this proposal is only common when referring to children:
:''La infano ploras, ĉar ĝi volas manĝi'' "the child is crying, because it wants to eat".
When speaking of adults or people in general, in popular usage it is much more common for the demonstrative adjective and pronoun ''tiu'' ("that thing or person that is already known to the listener") to be used in such situations. This mirrors languages such as Japanese, but it's not a method that can always be used. For example, in the sentence
:''Iu ĵus diris, ke '''tiu''' malsatas'' "Someone just said that ''that thing/person'' is hungry",
the word ''tiu'' would be understood as referring to someone other than the person speaking (like English pronouns ''this'' or ''that'' but also referring to people), and so cannot be used in place of ''ĝi'', ''li'' or ''ŝi.'' See [[Gender reform in Esperanto#Gender-neutral pronouns|gender-neutral pronouns in Esperanto]] for other approaches.

===Other pronouns===
The [[demonstrative pronoun|demonstrative]] and [[relative pronoun]]s form part of the [[Table of correlatives (Esperanto)|correlative system]], and are described in that article. The pronouns are the forms ending in ''-o'' (simple pronouns) and ''-u'' (adjectival pronouns); these take plural ''-j'' and accusative ''-n''  as nouns and adjectives do. The possessive pronouns, however, are the forms ending in ''-es''; they are indeclinable for number and case.<ref>[https://bertilow.com/pmeg/gramatiko/tabelvortoj/bazaj_reguloj.html ''Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko'']</ref> Compare the nominative phases ''lia domo'' (his house) and ''ties domo'' (that one's house, those ones' house) with the plural ''lia'''j''' domo'''j''''' (his houses) and ''ties domo'''j''''' (that one's houses, those ones' houses), and with the accusative genitive ''lia'''n''' domo'''n''''' and ''ties domo'''n'''.''<ref>An unofficial but widely recognized direct object&ndash;marking preposition ''na'' has become popular with some speakers on the internet and may be used in such situations, especially when there is no following noun ''(ties,'' accusative ''na ties)''. The purposefully ambiguous preposition ''je'' may be so used as well (accusative ''je ties)'', though normally the ''-es'' words are simply not marked as direct objects.</ref>