them

See also: thêm

Contents

English

Alternative forms

• dem (nonstandard)
• em
• 'em

Pronunciation

• (Stressed) enPR: thĕm, IPA^(key): /ðɛm/
  • (Stressed) (New York City) IPA^(key): [d̪ɛm]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (Unstressed) enPR: thəm, IPA^(key): /ðəm/
  • (Unstressed) (New York City) IPA^(key): [d̪ʌm]

• Audio (US) unstressed, in the phrase "see them"

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛm
• Rhymes: -əm

Etymology

From Middle English þem, from Old Norse þeim.

Pronoun

them (personal pronoun, objective case)

1. Objective case of they: third personal plural pronoun used after a preposition or as the object of a verb.

   Give it to them. (after preposition)

   She wrote them a letter. (indirect object)

   She treated them for a cold. (direct object)

2. Objective case of they: third-person singular pronoun used after a preposition or as the object of a verb.

   If someone comes and asks for the ticket, just give it to them. (after preposition)

   If one of my patients calls, please bring them their dinner. (indirect object)

   If a student has an inappropriate question, whatever you do, do not berate them. (direct object)

   • 1611, King James Bible, Deuteronomy 17.2–5:

     If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, […] [t]hen shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.

   • 2006, St. John Ambulance, First on the Scene: Student Reference Guide, →ISBN, Lesson 2, page 3:

     Place the casualty on their back with feet and legs raised—this is called the shock position. [emphasis in original] Once the casualty is positioned, cover them to preserve body heat, but do not overheat.

   • 2007, Rowling, J. K., Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, (quoted edition: London: Bloomsbury, 2008, →ISBN, page 270):

     Someone in the crowd around the lifts called sycophantically, ‘Morning, Yaxley!’ Yaxley ignored them.

Usage notes

• Regarding the use of singular them, see they.

Related terms

• their
• theirs
• they
• themself
• themselves

Translations

third personal plural pronoun used after a preposition or as the object of a verb

• Albanian: ata (sq), ato (sq), atyre (sq)
• Arabic: ـهُم‎ (ar) m pl (-hum), ـهُنَّ‎ (ar) f pl (-hunna), ـهُما‎ du (-humā), إِيَّاهُم‎ m pl (ʾiyyāhum), إِيَّاهُنَّ‎ f pl (ʾiyyāhunna), إيَّاهُمَا‎ m du, f du (ʾiyyāhumā)

  Egyptian Arabic: ـهم‎ (-hum)

• Armenian: նրանց (nrancʿ), իրենց (irencʿ)

  Old Armenian: նոցա (nocʿa), նոսա (nosa)

• Burmese: သူတို့ (sutui.), သူများ (my) (su-mya:)
• Catalan: (accusative) els (ca) m, les (ca) f, (dative) els (ca)
• Chechen: царна (carna)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 他們 (zh), 他们 (zh) (tāmen) (human), 她們 (zh), 她们 (zh) (tāmen) (human, female only), 牠們 (zh), 它们 (zh) (tāmen) (animal), 它們 (zh), 它们 (zh) (tāmen) (inanimate)

  Min Nan: 𪜶 (zh-min-nan) (in)

• Czech: jich (cs) (genitive, locative), nich (cs) (genitive, locative after preposition), jim (cs) (dative), nim (cs) (dative after preposition), je (cs) (accusative), ně (cs) (accusative after preposition), jimi (cs) (instrumental) nimi (cs) (instrumental after preposition)
• Danish: dem (da)
• Dutch: hen (nl) (esp. for direct objects), hun (nl) (esp. for indirect objects), ze (nl) (unemphatic)
• Esperanto: ili (eo), ilin (eo)
• Ewe: wo
• Faroese: teir, tær, tey (accusative case), teimum, teim (dative case)
• Finnish: heidät (fi), heitä (fi), heillä, heille, (inflected forms of he - "they", of which the ones listed are the most frequently used) heiltä
• French: (accusative) les (fr), (dative) leur (fr), (after preposition or emphatic) eux (fr) m, (after preposition or emphatic) elles (fr) f
• Georgian: მათ (mat), იმათ (imat)

• German: sie (de) (accusative), ihnen (de) (dative)
• Haitian Creole: yo
• Hopi: pumuy
• Hungarian: őket (hu), azokat (hu)
• Ido: li (io), ili (io) m, eli (io) f, oli (io) n
• Indonesian: mereka (id)
• Irish: iad, iadsan (emphatic)

  Old Irish: s-, da-, -us

• Kazakh: оларды (kk) (olardı)
• Latin: eos (la) m, eas (la) f, ea (la) n, illos m, illas f, illa n, hos (la) m, has (la) f, haec (la) n
• Manx: ad (gv), adsyn (emphatic)
• Maori: rāua (referring to two people), rātau (referring to three or more people), rātou (referring to three or more people)
• Norwegian: dem (no)
• Pitcairn-Norfolk: dem
• Polish: ich (pl) m pl, je (pl) f pl
• Portuguese: os (pt) m pl (direct object), lhes (pt) m pl, f pl (dative), eles (pt) m pl (preposition)
• Romanian: ei (ro) m pl (direct object) (stressed form), ele (ro) f pl (direct object) (stressed form), îi m pl (direct object) (unstressed form), le f pl (direct object) (unstressed form), lor (ro) m pl, f pl (indirect object) (stressed form), le m pl, f pl (indirect object) (unstressed form)
• Russian: их (ru) (ix) (direct object), им (ru) (im) (indirect object), (see они́ (ru) (oní) they for the complete declension)
• Scots: thaim
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: jej du, je pl (inanimate); jeju du, jich pl (animate)

• Spanish: a ellos m pl, a ellas f pl
• Swedish: dem (sv)
• Turkish: onlar (tr)
• Ukrainian: їх (jix), їм (jim)
• Venetian: lori (vec)
• Wolof: leen
• Zulu: bona class 2 (usually for people), yona class 4, wona class 6, zona class 8, zona class 10

third-person singular pronoun of indeterminate gender

• Finnish: hänet (fi), häntä (fi), hänellä (fi), hänelle (fi), (inflected forms of hän - "he, she", of which the ones listed are the most frequently used) häneltä (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: (after preposition) ^{(please verify)} ili (eo), (indirect object) ^{(please verify)} al ili , (direct object) ^{(please verify)} ilin (eo)

• Italian: (after preposition) ^{(please verify)} loro (it), (indirect object) ^{(please verify)} loro (it), (colloquial) ^{(please verify)} gli (it), (indirect object, emphatic) ^{(please verify)} a loro, (indirect object with an imperative verb) ^{(please verify)} loro (it), (colloquial; becomes glie- when used with a direct object) ^{(please verify)} gli (it), (direct object) ^{(please verify)} li (it) m, ^{(please verify)} le (it) f, (direct object, emphatic) ^{(please verify)} loro (it)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 彼らを (かれらを, karera o)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 그들을 (geudeuleul), ^{(please verify)} 그들에게 (geudeulege)
• Novial: ^{(please verify)} les m, f or n, ^{(please verify)} los m, ^{(please verify)} las f, ^{(please verify)} lus n
• Slovak: (dative) ^{(please verify)} im, (accusative) ^{(please verify)} ich (sk)
• Spanish: (direct object) ^{(please verify)} les (es), ^{(please verify)} a ellos (es) m , (indirect object) ^{(please verify)} a ellas (es) f , ^{(please verify)} ellos (es) m, (after preposition) ^{(please verify)} ellas (es) f
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} dem (sv)

See also

English personal pronouns

			personal pronoun			possessive pronoun	possessive determiner
			subjective	objective	reflexive
first person	singular		I	me	myself	mine	my mine (before vowels, archaic)
	plural		we	us	ourselves ourself	ours	our
second person	singular	standard	you	you	yourself	yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects)	your
		archaic, informal	thou	thee	thyself theeself	thine	thy thine (before vowels)
	plural	standard	you you all ye (archaic)	you you all	yourselves	yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects)	your
		informal / dialectal	(see list of dialectal forms at you and inflected forms in those entries)
third person	singular	masculine	he	him	himself hisself (archaic)	his hisn (obsolete outside dialects)	his
		feminine	she	her	herself	hers hern (obsolete outside dialects)	her
		neuter	it	it	itself	its his (archaic)	its his (archaic)
		genderless	they	them	themself, themselves	theirs	their
		genderless, nonspecific (formal)	one	one	oneself	–	one's
	plural		they	them	themselves	theirs theirn (obsolete outside dialects)	their

Determiner

them

1. (dialectal) Those.
   • 2005, Elmer Kelton, Sons of Texas, Tor/Forge (2005), page 111:

     " […] Them two wild horses ain't fit to ride, and I been wonderin' how I was goin' to get you out of this place before them Spanish maybe circle back and finish the job."

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:them.

   Them kids need to grow up.

Anagrams

• meth, meth-

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Albanian

Alternative forms

• thom

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *ϑēm-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₁(n)s- (“to say, instruct, announce”). Cognate with Sanskrit शास्ति (śā́sti, “to instruct, advise, command”), and Latin cēnseō (“I give an opinion, I judge, guess, reckon”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ðɛm]

Verb

them (first-person singular past tense thashë, participle thënë)

1. I say

Conjugation

conjugation of them

participle (pjesorja)			thënë
gerund — present (përcjellorja — koha e tashme)			duke thënë
gerund — past (përcjellorja — koha e kryer)			duke pasë thënë
infinitive (paskajorja)			për të thënë
		singular (numri njëjës)			plural (numri shumës)
		1st person (veta e parë)	2nd person (veta e dytë)	3rd person (veta e tretë)	1st person (veta e parë)	2nd person (veta e dytë)	3rd person (veta e tretë)
indicative (mënyra dëftore)		unë	ti	ai/ajo	ne	ju	ata/ato
	present (koha e tashme)	them	thua	thotë	themi	thoni	thonë
	imperfect (koha e pakryer)	thosha	thoshe	thoshte	thoshim	thoshit	thoshin
	simple past (koha e kryer e thjeshtë)	thashë	the	tha	thamë	thatë	thanë
	perfect (koha e kryer)	kam thënë	ke thënë	ka thënë	kemi thënë	keni thënë	kanë thënë
	pluperfect (koha e kryer e tejshkuar)	pata thënë	pate thënë	pati thënë	patëm thënë	patët thënë	patën thënë
	future (koha e ardhme)	do të them	do të thuash	do të thotë	do të themi	do të thoni	do të thonë
	future perfect (koha e ardhme e përparme)	do të kem thënë	do të kesh thënë	do të ketë thënë	do të kemi thënë	do të keni thënë	do të kenë thënë
subjunctive (mënyra lidhore)		unë	ti	ai/ajo	ne	ju	ata/ato
	present (koha e tashme)	të them	të thuash	të thotë	të themi	të thoni	të thonë
	past (koha e pakryer)	të thosha	të thoshe	të thoshte	të thoshim	të thoshit	të thoshin
	perfect (koha e kryer)	të kem thënë	të kesh thënë	të ketë thënë	të kemi thënë	të keni thënë	të kenë thënë
	pluperfect (koha e kryer e tejshkuar)	të kisha thënë	të kishe thënë	të kishte thënë	të kishim thënë	të kishit thënë	të kishin thënë
conditional (mënyra kushtore)		unë	ti	ai/ajo	ne	ju	ata/ato
	present (koha e tashme)	do të thosha	do të thoshe	do të thoshte	do të thoshim	do të thoshit	do të thoshin
	perfect (koha e kryer)	do të kisha thënë	do të kishe thënë	do të kishte thënë	do të kishim thënë	do të kishit thënë	do të kishin thënë
optative (mënyra dëshirore)		unë	ti	ai/ajo	ne	ju	ata/ato
	present (koha e tashme)	thënça	thënç	thëntë	thënçim	thënçit	thënçin
	perfect (koha e kryer)	paça thënë	paç thënë	pastë thënë	paçim thënë	paçit thënë	paçin thënë
admirative (mënyra habitore)		unë	ti	ai/ajo	ne	ju	ata/ato
	present (koha e tashme)	thënkam	thënke	thënka	thënkemi	thënkeni	thënkan
	imperfect (koha e pakryer)	thënkësha	thënkëshe	thënkësh	thënkëshim	thënkëshit	thënkëshin
	perfect (koha e kryer)	paskam thënë	paske thënë	paska thënë	paskemi thënë	paskeni thënë	paskan thënë
	pluperfect (koha e kryer)	paskësha thënë	paskëshe thënë	paskësh thënë	paskëshim thënë	paskëshit thënë	paskëshin thënë
imperative (mënyra urdhërore)		—	ti	—	—	ju	—
			thuaj			thoni

Derived terms

• kundërthem

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Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

them

1. Alternative form of teme (“folk”)

Etymology 2

Pronoun

them

1. Alternative form of þem

References

• “theim (pron.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 1 June 2018.

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Romani

Noun

them m (plural thema)

1. country