þeir

þeir

See also: their

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse þeir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θeiːr/
• Rhymes: -eiːr
• Homophone: þeyr

Pronoun

þeir m

1. (personal pronoun): nominative plural of the word hann meaning "he"; literally meaning "they"

   Hvernig vitaþeir þetta?

   How do they know that?

   Strákar; þeir elska stelpur og stelpur elska þá.

   Boys; they love girls and girls love them.

2. (demonstrative pronoun):, plural of sá

See also

  Icelandic personal pronouns

Icelandic personal pronouns
singular	first person	second person	third person masculine	third person feminine	third person neuter
nominative	ég, eg†, ek†	þú	hann	hún, hon†, hón†	það, þat†
accusative	mig, mik†	þig, þik†	hann	hana	það, þat†
dative	mér	þér	honum, hánum†	henni	því
genitive	mín	þín	hans	hennar	þess
plural	first person	second person	third person masculine	third person feminine	third person neuter
nominative	við	þið, þit†	þeir	þær	þau
accusative	okkur	ykkur	þá	þær	þau
dative	okkur	ykkur	þeim	þeim	þeim
genitive	okkar	ykkar	þeirra	þeirra	þeirra

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• þeire, þeyr, þeyre, their, theire, theyr, theyre, þer, þere, ther, there, þair, þaire, þayr, thair, thaire, thayre, þar, þare, thar, thare, þaier, thiere, þur, þeȝȝre, yeir, yar, yair, yaire, tar, teȝȝre

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse þeirra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθɛi̯r(ə)/, /ˈðɛi̯r(ə)/[1][2]

Determiner

þeir (nominative pronoun þei)

1. Third-person plural possessive determiner: their[3]

Descendants

• English: their
• Scots: thair

See also

Middle English personal pronouns

			nominative	accusative	dative	genitive	possessive
singular	1st-person		I, ich, ik	me		min mi1	min
	2nd-person		þou	þe		þin þi1	þin
	3rd-person	m	he	him hine2	him	his	his hisen
		f	sche, heo	hire heo	hire		hire hires, hiren
		n	hit		hit him2	his, hit	—
dual3	1st-person		wit	unk		unker
	2nd-person		ȝit	inc		inker
plural	1st-person		we	us, ous		oure	oure oures, ouren
	2nd-person4		ye	yow		your	your youres, youren
	3rd-person	inh.	he	hem he2	hem	here	here heres, heren
		bor.	þei	þem, þeim		þeir	þeir þeires, þeiren

¹Used preconsonantally or before h.
²Early or dialectal.
³Dual pronouns are only sporadically found in Early Middle English; after that, they are replaced by plural forms. There are no third-person dual forms in Middle English.
⁴Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

References

1. Brink, Daniel (1992), “Variation between <þ-> and <t-> in the Ormulum”, in Irmengard Rauch, Gerald F. Carr and Robert L. Kyes, editors, On Germanic Linguistics: Issues and Methods (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs; 68), De Gruyter Mouton, DOI:10.1515/9783110856446.21, →ISBN, pages 21-35.
2. Thurber, Beverly A. (15 February 2011), “Voicing of Initial Interdental Fricatives in Early Middle English Function Words”, in Journal of Germanic Linguistics, volume 23, issue 1, Cambridge University Press, DOI:10.1017/S147054271000005X, pages 65-81.
3. “their(e,, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 4 June 2018.

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Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Norse *ᚦᚨᛁᛉ (*þaiʀ), from Proto-Germanic *þai (“they, those”), plural masculine of *sa (“that”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌹 (þai).

Pronoun

þeir

1. those (nominative plural masculine demonstrative pronoun)
2. they (third-person nominative plural masculine personal pronoun)

Declension

Old Norse personal pronouns

number	first person	second person	reflexive	third person
case	singular			singular masculine	singular feminine	singular neuter
nominative	ek	þú		hann	hon, hón	þat
accusative	mik	þik	sik	hann, hánn	hana, hána	þat
dative	mér	þér	sér	hánum, hónum	henni	því
genitive	mínn, minn	þínn, þinn	sínn, sinn	hans, háns	hennar	þess
case	dual
nominative	vit	it, þit
accusative	okkr	ykkr	sik
dative	okkr	ykkr	sér
genitive	okkarr	ykkarr	sínn, sinn
case	plural			plural masculine	plural feminine	plural neuter
nominative	vér	ér, þér		þeir	þær	þau
accusative	oss	yðr	sik	þá	þær	þau
dative	oss	yðr	sér	þeim	þeim	þeim
genitive	várr	yðarr, yðvarr	sínn, sinn	þeira, þeirra	þeira, þeirra	þeira, þeirra

Old Norse demonstrative pronouns

singular	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	sá	sú	þat
accusative	þann	þá	þat
dative	þeim	þeirri	því, þí
genitive	þess	þeirrar	þess
plural	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	þeir	þær	þau
accusative	þá	þær	þau
dative	þeim	þeim	þeim
genitive	þeira, þeirra	þeira, þeirra	þeira, þeirra

Alternative forms

Nominative

• ᚦᛅᛁᛦ (þaiʀ) – early Common Nordic
• ᚦᛅᛁᚱ (þair, þæir), ᚦᛂᛁᚱ (þeir) – after merger of r and ʀ, occurring by the 800s in West Norse and late 1000s in East Norse
• ᚦᛂᚱ (þer), ᚦᛂᛦ (þeʀ), ᚦᛁᚱ (þir), ᚦᛁᛦ (þiʀ) – after East Norse monophthongization, starting in the mid 900s in Denmark

Accusative

• ᚦᛅ (þa)

Dative

• ᚦᛅᛁᛘ (þaim, þæim) – Common Nordic
• ᚦᛂᛁᛘ (þeim) – after invention of stung runes
• ᚦᛂᛘ (þem), ᚦᛁᛘ (þim) – after East Norse monophthongization

Genitive

• ᚦᛅᛁᚱᛅ (þaira), ᚦᛅᛁᛦᛅ (þaiʀa), ᚦᛂᛁᚱᛅ (þeira), ᚦᛂᛁᛦᛅ (þeiʀa), ᚦᛂᚱᛅ (þera), ᚦᛂᛦᛅ (þeʀa), ᚦᛁᚱᛅ (þira), ᚦᛁᛦᛅ (þiʀa)

Descendants

• Icelandic: þeir
• Faroese: teir
• Norwegian Nynorsk: dei
• Jamtish: di
• Westrobothnian: de, di (< *dĭ) däi (< *dī)
• Elfdalian: dier
• Old Swedish: þēr, the, þir, thi
  • Swedish: de, (archaic) the, dhe (dialectal) di, da
• Danish: de
  • Norwegian Bokmål: de
• Old Gutnish: þar
  • Gutnish: dair, di
• → Middle English: thei, they
  • Scots: they
  • English: they