Pronouns are words that are used instead of a noun. They are used instead of nouns either because there are no nouns for some things or to avoid repeating a noun. You need to understand the context in which they are used to understand their the actual meaning. As they take the place of a noun they have genders, cases and numbers just like nouns.
Let’s take a look at some examples:
Εγώ τρέχω. (I run.)
Αυτός τρέχει. (He runs.)
Here εγώ and αυτός are used to signify who is running.
Έδωσα το βιβλίο στην Μαρία. (I gave the book to Maria.)
Της έδωσα το βιβλίο. (I gave her the book.)
Here της replaces στην Μαρία. We could go a step further and replace το βιβλίο as well with another pronoun (το):
Της το έδωσα. (I gave it to her.)
As pronouns replace nouns, they have numbers, cases and genders like nouns do.
Τα βιβλία των παιδιών. (The children‘s books.)
Τα βιβλία τους. (Their books.)
Here τους replaces των παιδιών so it is in the plural.
There are different types of pronouns which we will look at separately.
| Personal pronouns (I, you) | Προσωπικές Αντωνυμίες (εγώ, εσύ) |
| Possessive pronouns (my, your) | Κτητικές Αντωνυμίες (μου, σου) |
| Definite pronouns (himself, alone) | Οριστικές Αντωνυμίες (ο ίδιος, μόνος) |
| Reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself) | Aυτοπαθείς αντωνυμίες (ο εαυτός μου) |
| Demonstrative pronouns (this, that) | Δεικτικές αντωνυμίες (εκείνος αυτός) |
| Relative pronouns (that, who, whom) | Αναφορικές αντωνυμίες (όποιος) |
| Interrogative pronouns (who?, what?) | Eρωτηματικές αντωνυμίες (ποιος; ποιο;) |
| Indefinite pronouns (someone, anyone) | Aόριστες αντωνυμίες (κάποιος, κανένας) |