Punjabi pronouns can be divided into first person (I, me, we, us), second person (you), and third person (he, him, she, her, they, them). This table describes all the personal pronouns in Punjabi.
Person | Number | Punjabi | English |
First | Singular | mae(n) | I, me |
Plural | asī(n) | We, us | |
Second | Singular, informal | tū(n) | You (singular, informal) |
Plural / respectful | tusī(n) | You (plural, respectful) | |
Third (near) | Singular & plural | ih | He, she, this, these |
Third (far) | Singular & plural | uh | He, she, that, those |
First person: mae(n) (I, me) and asī(n) (we, us) are the first person personal pronouns.
mae(n) panjjābī sikkh rihā hā(n)
I (masculine) am learning Punjabi
asī(n) panjjābī sikkh rahē hā(n)
We (masculine) are learning Punjabi
Second person: In Punjabi tū(n) (you - singular, informal) is used when addressing a single person you are very familiar with or is younger whereas tusī(n) (you - plural, respectful) is used when addressing either multiple people or to a single person in a respectful way.
tū(n) panjjābī sikkh rihā hae(n)
You are learning Punjabi
tusī(n) panjjābī sikkh rahē ho
You (all) are learning Punjabi
Though this is exactly the same as the next sentence, depending on context, it can be interpreted as referring to multiple people (second personal plural)
tusī(n) panjjābī sikkh rahē ho
You (respectful) are learning Punjabi
Though this is exactly the same as the previous sentence, depending on context, it can be interpreted as referring to multiple people (second personal respectful)
Third person: The third person pronouns ih (he, she, this, these) and uh (he, she, that, those) are not explicitly singular or plural, masculine or feminine. This is instead inferred from the context
ih panjjābī sikkh rihā hae
He is learning Punjabi
ih is “he” because sikh rihā (is learning) is masculine
ih panjjābī sikkh rahī hae
She is learning Punjabi
ih is “she” because sikh rihī (is learning) is feminine
ih panjjābī viākaraṇ dī kitāb hae
This is a Punjabi grammar book
ih is “this” because it is being used to refer to something non-human
ih panjjābī sikkhāundē han
They teach Punjabi
ih is “they” because sikkhāundē han (do teach) is plural
Notice ih (he, she, this, these) is used in all of these sentences, but it’s meaning between “he”, “she”, “this” and “they” is determined by the gender and number of other words from context. The exact same applies to uh (he, she, that, those). With practice, determining the meaning of ih / uh from context will become natural