Russian pronouns help you say who is doing something, whose book you mean, and whether an action refers back to its subject. Start with three contrasts: я / меня (“I / me”), мой / его (“my / his”), and её / себя (“her / herself,” in the right context).
This beginner guide covers personal pronouns, basic possessives and the reflexive pronoun себя. You’ll practise choosing a form in a sentence, rather than trying to learn every Russian pronoun category at once.
1. Russian personal pronouns: a starter reference
The nominative is the subject form: Я читаю. means “I am reading.” The accusative is used for the direct object of verbs such as видеть (“to see”): Он видит меня. means “He sees me.”
Subject forms and accusative object forms without a preposition
Subject (nominative): я (ya). Meaning: I. Object (accusative): меня: me.
Subject (nominative): ты (ty). Meaning: you: informal singular. Object (accusative): тебя: you.
Subject (nominative): он (on). Meaning: he; it for a masculine noun. Object (accusative): его: him; it.
Subject (nominative): она (ona). Meaning: she; it for a feminine noun. Object (accusative): её: her; it.
Subject (nominative): оно (ono). Meaning: it for a neuter noun. Object (accusative): его: it.
Subject (nominative): мы (my). Meaning: we. Object (accusative): нас: us.
Subject (nominative): вы (vy). Meaning: you: polite singular or plural. Object (accusative): вас: you.
Subject (nominative): они (oni). Meaning: they. Object (accusative): их: them.
The letters in parentheses are romanization, not an exact pronunciation guide. This reference covers two cases, not the full six-case system.
Ты or вы?
Use ты for one person when an informal relationship is established, such as with a close friend or family member. Вы addresses several people, including friends, or one person politely. With an unfamiliar adult, вы is a useful starting point unless the setting or the other person invites ты. Being the same age does not automatically make ты appropriate.
The verb changes too: Ты читаешь? means “Are you reading?” to one person informally; Вы читаете? asks one person politely or several people.
Он, она and оно can refer to things
English “it” does not always become оно. Russian follows the noun’s grammatical gender: дом → он (“house”), книга → она (“book”), окно → оно (“window”). For example, Где книга? Она на столе. means “Where is the book? It is on the table.” These choices follow grammatical gender.
How case changes the form: six examples with я
English uses “me” in several different roles. Russian distinguishes them. Learn a pronoun with its verb or preposition, since a case name is not a one-word translation rule.
Nominative: я. Я читаю.
I am reading. Я is the subject.Genitive: меня. Это для меня.
This is for me. Для takes the genitive.Dative: мне. Она пишет мне.
She is writing to me. Мне identifies the recipient.Accusative: меня. Ты видишь меня.
You see me. Меня is the direct object of видишь.Instrumental: мной. Она говорит со мной.
She is talking with me. Со мной is the whole phrase “with me.” Мною is an alternative instrumental form.Prepositional: мне. Она говорит обо мне.
She is talking about me. Обо мне is the whole phrase “about me”; мне by itself does not mean “about me.”
Notice that меня occurs in two cases, as does мне. The surrounding words tell you which case is being used. Other personal pronouns have their own sets of forms: ему means “to him” in Она пишет ему. (“She is writing to him”), while с ним means “with him.”
Third-person personal pronouns take initial н after many common prepositions: для него (“for him”), с ней (“with her”), о них (“about them”). This is not a rule for every preposition. Learn these as complete phrases.
Can I leave out я?
Sometimes. Иду домой. can mean “I’m going home”: the verb form identifies the speaker. Omission depends on the sentence and context, so do not delete every subject pronoun. Keep it when it is needed for clarity or contrast.
2. Possessive pronouns: whose thing is it?
Possessives such as мой, твой, наш and ваш change to match the possessed noun in gender in the singular, number and case. The choice between мой and моя depends on the thing you are talking about, not on whether its owner is a man or a woman.
Here are the nominative forms. Each item lists masculine singular, feminine singular, neuter singular and plural forms:
Changing possessives in the nominative
Meaning: my. Masculine singular: мой. Feminine singular: моя. Neuter singular: моё. Plural: мои.
Meaning: your: ты. Masculine singular: твой. Feminine singular: твоя. Neuter singular: твоё. Plural: твои.
Meaning: our. Masculine singular: наш. Feminine singular: наша. Neuter singular: наше. Plural: наши.
Meaning: your: вы. Masculine singular: ваш. Feminine singular: ваша. Neuter singular: ваше. Plural: ваши.
Это мой дом.
This is my house.Моя книга на столе.
My book is on the table.моё окно: my window; мои друзья: my friends.
Наши друзья уже пришли.
Our friends have already arrived.
For the feminine noun машина (“car”), use моя машина, not мой машина. Case matters as well: compare мой дом (“my house”) with в моём доме (“in my house”). Both the possessive and the noun change.
The exception: possessive его, её and их stay the same
Его (“his”), её (“her”) and их (“their”) keep the same form even when the noun changes:
его дом → в его доме: his house → in his house.
её книга → её книги: her book → her books.
их дом → их дома: their house → their houses.
In the last example, their house can be one house owned by several people. Их does not require a plural noun. The pattern here is the traditional plural-possessor use; English singular “their” needs a translation chosen for its particular context.
Его can mean “him” or “his”
Look at what the word is doing:
Я вижу его.
I see him. Here его is a personal pronoun, the accusative form of он.Я вижу его книгу.
I see his book. Here книгу is the object; его tells you whose book it is and stays unchanged.Я говорю с ним.
I am talking with him. Ним is a personal-pronoun form.Я говорю с его другом.
I am talking with his friend. Его remains possessive; the preposition goes with другом.
The same distinction applies to её (“her” as an object, or “her” before a noun) and их (“them” or “their”). Do not replace possessive его with ему or ним before a noun.
3. Reflexives: referring back to the subject
Себя, себе and собой
In a simple sentence, себя refers back to the subject. Its English translation changes with that subject: myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves or themselves. It has no nominative form and cannot be the subject.
The case forms are себя in the genitive and accusative, себе in the dative and prepositional, and собой (also собою) in the instrumental. The verb or preposition determines the case.
Я люблю себя.
I love myself. Себя refers to я and is accusative after люблю.Она заботится о себе.
She takes care of herself. О себе is prepositional; себе refers to она.Мы гордимся собой.
We are proud of ourselves. Гордиться takes the instrumental; собой refers to мы.
Compare Анна видит себя. (“Anna sees herself”) with Анна видит её. (“Anna sees her,” meaning someone else). In these simple sentences, choose себя when the person seeing and the person seen are the same.
Свой: the subject’s own
Свой is a reflexive possessive: in the simple sentences below, it identifies something belonging to the subject. It changes like мой to match the possessed noun.
Анна читает свою книгу.
Anna is reading her own book. The book belongs to Anna.Анна читает её книгу.
Anna is reading her book. Here we normally understand the book as belonging to another woman already mentioned.
Свою is feminine accusative to match книгу. The same contrast works with a male subject: Он читает свою книгу. is his own book; Он читает его книгу. normally means another person’s book. English “his” and “her” can hide this distinction, so identify the owner before translating.
What about verbs ending in -ся or -сь?
These endings are part of a verb, not separate pronouns. Some describe self-directed actions: мыться means “to wash oneself,” and одеваться means “to get dressed.” For example, Я моюсь. means “I’m washing myself.” But бояться means “to be afraid,” not “to fear oneself.” Learn the whole verb and its meaning; do not automatically replace -ся/-сь with себя or translate every such verb with English “self.”
4. Practise choosing the pronoun
Choose the form that gives the meaning in English. Then explain what job it does before checking the answers.
Я вижу ___. (ты / тебя): I see you, speaking informally to one person.
Это ___ книга. (мой / моя / моё): This is my book.
Мы говорим о ___ книге. (его / нём): We are talking about his book.
Анна заботится о ___. (себе / ней): Anna takes care of herself.
Анна читает ___ книгу. (свою / её): Anna is reading her own book.
In Я вижу их. and Я вижу их дом., which их means “them,” and which means “their”?
You are addressing two close friends: choose ты or вы. What would you normally start with when addressing one unfamiliar adult?
Answers and explanations
тебя. Я вижу тебя. The person seen is the direct object, so use the accusative. Ты is a subject form.
моя. Это моя книга. Книга is feminine singular, and this sentence uses the nominative form.
его. Мы говорим о его книге. Его identifies the owner and stays fixed. Книге is prepositional after о. О нём on its own would mean “about him,” not “about his.”
себе. Анна заботится о себе. Anna is both the subject and the person she cares for. О ней would refer to another person in this simple contrast.
свою. Анна читает свою книгу. The owner is the subject, Anna; свою matches feminine accusative книгу.
In Я вижу их., их means “them” and is the object. In Я вижу их дом., it means “their”; the thing seen is дом, “house.”
вы in both situations. With two friends it is plural, regardless of informality. With one unfamiliar adult it is polite singular.
Keep practising
Write three short sentences using the patterns above: one about who you see, one identifying whose object it is, and one in which the action refers back to its subject. Underline each pronoun and label its job. If you can explain the choice, change the person or noun and try again.
For more work on the difference between его / её / их as objects and possessives, use Между нами’s accusative-pronoun lesson. Start at “Accusative Pronouns” and continue to the comparison exercise below the table.
To practise reading familiar pronouns in fuller sentences, try 10 Russian Words That Have No English Equivalent. Its examples with мне and меня, including Мне обидно (“I’m hurt” in one context), show why a natural translation depends on the whole phrase.
If you would like guided practice, see Polyglottist Language Academy’s current Russian classes. Compare the listed level, Berkeley or live-online format, dates and tuition before choosing a course.
Grammar references
The pronoun forms were checked against russky.info’s pronoun paradigms. For the fixed-form possessives, see Gramota’s explanation of possessive forms; for initial н after prepositions, see Gramota’s preposition reference. The Gramota references are in Russian.