he
he - Translingual
Symbol
he
- (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Hebrew.
he - English
Alternative forms
- hee (obsolete)
Pronunciation
- (UK) enPR: hē, IPA: /ˈhiː/, (unstressed) IPA: /hi/, /i/
- (US) enPR: hē, IPA: /hi/, [hi], [çi]
Pronoun
he (third-person singular, masculine, nominative case, oblique him, reflexive himself, possessive his)
- (personal) A male person or animal already known or implied.
- (personal, sometimes proscribed, see usage notes) they; he or she (a person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant.)
- The rulebook clearly states that "if any student is caught cheating, he will be expelled", and you were caught cheating, were you not, Anna?
- (personal, sometimes proscribed) it; an animal whose gender is unknown.
- A genderless object regarded as masculine, such as certain stars or planets (e.g. Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter) or certain ships.
Usage notes
- He was traditionally used as both a masculine and a gender-neutral pronoun, but since the mid-20th century generic usage has sometimes been considered sexist and limiting. It is deprecated by some style guides, such as Wadsworth. In place of generic he, writers and speakers may use he or she, alternate he and she as the indefinite person, use the singular they, or rephrase sentences to use plural they.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
Determiner
he
- (African-American Vernacular) Synonym of his
Noun
he (countable and uncountable, plural hes)
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA: /heɪ/
Noun
he
- The name of the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).
- The name of the first letter of the Old South Arabian abjad.
Translations
Interjection
he
Anagrams
he - Aukan
Noun
he
- paca (large South and Central American rodent)
he - Breton
Determiner
he
he - Catalan
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA: /ˈe/
Verb
he
- first-person singular present indicative form of haver
he - Classical Nahuatl
Pronunciation
- IPA: [é]
Interjection
he
- an expression of physical pain; ouch.
he - Danish
Interjection
he
- (onomatopoeia) Signifies a laugh, especially one that is slightly mischievous.
he - Dutch
Interjection
he
he - Esperanto
Interjection
he
- interjection used to attract someone's attention, hey
- interjection expressing irony
Derived terms
- he ho
he - Fasu
Noun
hẹ or hȩ́ (Fasu)
Synonyms
- hi (Namumi)
he - Finnish
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈhe/, [ˈhe̞]
- Syllabification: he
Pronoun
he
- (personal) they (plural, only of people)
- (respectful) he, she, one, (singular) they (of a single human being, like hän)
Usage notes
- In standard Finnish, he is practically never omitted, despite the verb showing both the person and the number (compare the usage of hän).
Declension
- Irregular (inflectional stem hei-, as if in the plural). The comitative and instructive forms don't exist; the abessive is hardly used.
- In addition to the standard set of cases, he and other personal pronouns have a specific accusative form, heidät.
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Synonyms
Descendants
- Kven: het
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈhe(ː)/, [ˈhe̞(ː)]
- Syllabification: he
Noun
he
- he (fifth letter of the Hebrew and Phoenician scripts and the Northwest Semitic abjad)
Declension
Inflection of he (Kotus type 21/rosé, no gradation) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
nominative | he | het | ||
genitive | hen | heiden heitten | ||
partitive | hetä | heitä | ||
illative | hehen | heihin | ||
singular | plural | |||
nominative | he | het | ||
accusative | nom. | he | het | |
gen. | hen | |||
genitive | hen | heiden heitten | ||
partitive | hetä | heitä | ||
inessive | hessä | heissä | ||
elative | hestä | heistä | ||
illative | hehen | heihin | ||
adessive | hellä | heillä | ||
ablative | heltä | heiltä | ||
allative | helle | heille | ||
essive | henä | heinä | ||
translative | heksi | heiksi | ||
instructive | — | hein | ||
abessive | hettä | heittä | ||
comitative | See the possessive forms below. |
Possessive forms of he (type rosé) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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he - German Low German
Alternative forms
- hee
- (in other dialects, including Mecklenburgisch, West Pomeranian and Low Prussian) hei
- (in other dialects, including Sauerländisch) hai
- (in other dialects, including regional Westphalian and East Frisian as rare alternative form) hä
Pronunciation
- IPA: /hɛɪ̯/
Pronoun
he m (genitive sin, dative 1 em, dative 2 en, dative 3 jüm, accusative 1 em, accusative 2 en)
- (in some dialects, including, Münsterland, Mecklenburgisch, Western Pomeranian and Low Prussian, personal) he (third-person singular masculine pronoun)
- He ös to lat. (Low Prussian)
- He is too late.
Usage notes
- Which dative is employed depends on dialect, not on function.
- Some dialects might consider any of the inflected forms obsolete.
he - Hadza
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ɦe/
Verb
he
he - Hawaiian
Article
he (indefinite)
he - Ido
Pronunciation
- IPA: /he/, /hɛ/
Noun
he (plural be-i)
he - Japanese
Romanization
he
he - Kholosi
Pronoun
he
- it (proximal)
he - Kikuyu
Pronunciation
- IPA: /hɛ/
Verb
he (infinitive kũhe)
- to give
Derived terms
(Proverbs)
- mwana ndaheanagwo
Related terms
(Nouns)
- kĩhe(e)o class 7
- maheeo class 6
he - Lakota
Particle
he
- question-marking particle used by females in formal speech
- Mázaškaŋškaŋ tóna he? ― what time is it?
Usage notes
Informally, both men and women use this question-marking particle. When speaking formally, however, only women use it. In a formal setting, men use huwó, hwo, or huŋwó.
Synonyms
- huwó (used by men)
he - Mandarin
Romanization
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 荷
he
- Nonstandard spelling of hē.
- Nonstandard spelling of hé.
- Nonstandard spelling of hě.
- Nonstandard spelling of hè.
Usage notes
- Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
he - Maori
Article
he
he - Middle English
Pronunciation
- IPA: /heː/
Pronoun
he (accusative him or hine, genitive his or hisen, possessive determiner his)
- Third-person singular masculine pronoun: he
- it; used also of inanimate objects
- (impersonal) Third-person singular impersonal pronoun: one; you
Usage notes
In addition to referring to male humans and animals, this pronoun was used for inanimate objects belonging to the masculine grammatical gender early in Middle English. As grammatical gender obsolesced, this pronoun continued to refer to inanimate objects.
Alternative forms
Descendants
Pronoun
he (accusative hem or he, genitive heres or heren, possessive determiner here)
Alternative forms
Descendants
Pronoun
he
- Alternative form of heo (“she”)
Interjection
he
- Alternative form of hey (“hey”)
Noun
he
- Alternative form of heye (“hedge”)
Adjective
he (comparative her, superlative hest)
- Alternative form of heigh (“high”)
Verb
he (third-person singular simple present heth, present participle hende, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle hed)
- Alternative form of hyen (“to go quickly”)
he - Middle Low German
Pronunciation
- Stem vowel: ê⁴
- (originally) IPA: /heː/
Pronoun
hê
- (third person singular masculine nominative) he
Declension
nominative | accusative | dative | genitive | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st person singular | ik (ek) | mî (mê, mik, mek) | mîn (mîner) | ||
2nd person singular | dû | dî (dê, dik, dek) | dîn (dîner) | ||
3rd person singular | |||||
m | hê (hî, hie) | ēne, en (ȫne, ȫn) | ēme, em (ȫme, en) | sîn (sîner) | |
n | it (et) | ||||
f | sê (sî, sie, sü̂) | ēre, ēr (ērer, ȫrer) | |||
1st person plural | wî (wê, wie) | uns (ûs, ös, ü̂sik) | unser (ûser) | ||
2nd person plural | gî (jê, î) | jû (jûwe, û, jük, gik) | jûwer (ûwer) | ||
3rd person plural | sê (sî, sie) | em, öm, jüm (en, ēnen, ȫnen) | ēre, ēr (ērer, ȫrer) | ||
For an explanation of the forms in brackets see here. |
he - North Frisian
Pronoun
he
- Alternative form of hi
he - Norwegian Nynorsk
Verb
he
- (dialectal, Trøndelag) alternative form of hev (“have, has”)
- E he ei bok om føgla. He hann løst å kjøp ho?
- I have a book about birds. Does he want to buy it? (literally "does he have desire to by her?")
- E he ei bok om føgla. He hann løst å kjøp ho?
he - Old English
Pronunciation
- IPA: /xeː/, [heː]
Pronoun
hē m (accusative hine, genitive his, dative him)
- he
- it (when the thing being referred to is masculine)
- they (singular) (denotes someone of unknown gender)
Declension
nominative | accusative | dative | genitive | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
singular | first person | iċ | mec, mē | mē | mīn | |
second person | þū | þec, þē | þē | þīn | ||
third person | neuter | hit | him | his | ||
masculine | hē | hine | ||||
feminine | hēo | hīe | hiere | |||
dual | first person | wit | uncit | unc | uncer | |
second person | ġit | incit | inc | incer | ||
plural | first person | wē | ūsic | ūs | ūser, ūre | |
second person | ġē | ēowic | ēow | ēower | ||
third person | hīe | him | heora |
Descendants
he - Old Saxon
Alternative forms
Pronoun
hē m
Declension
Personal pronouns | |||||
Singular | 1. | 2. | 3. m | 3. f | 3. n |
Nominative | ik | thū | hē | siu | it |
Accusative | mī, me, mik | thī, thik | ina | sia | |
Dative | mī | thī | imu | iru | it |
Genitive | mīn | thīn | is | ira | is |
Dual | 1. | 2. | - | - | - |
Nominative | wit | git | - | - | - |
Accusative | unk | ink | - | - | - |
Dative | |||||
Genitive | unkero, unka | - | - | - | |
Plural | 1. | 2. | 3. m | 3. f | 3. n |
Nominative | wī, we | gī, ge | sia | sia | siu |
Accusative | ūs, unsik | eu, iu, iuu | |||
Dative | ūs | im | |||
Genitive | ūser | euwar, iuwer, iuwar, iuwero, iuwera | iro |
Descendants
- German Low German: he
he - Portuguese
Verb
he
- Obsolete spelling of é
he - Romanian
Interjection
he
- Alternative form of hei
he - Scots
Pronunciation
- IPA: /hi/, /hɪ/
Pronoun
he (third-person singular, masculine, nominative case; accusative him, reflexive himsel, possessive his)
he - Spanish
Pronunciation
Adverb
he
Usage notes
Derived terms
- he ahí
- he allí
- he aquí
Noun
he f (plural hes)
Verb
he
- inflection of haber:
- first-person singular present indicative
- second-person singular imperative
- second-person singular voseo imperative
he - Swedish
Verb
he (present her, preterite hedde, supine hett, imperative he)
- (regional, colloquial) to put
- He den på bordet
- Put it on the table
- Häv/He på stereon
- Put on the stereo (Hälsingland/further north)
- Synonym: (Hälsingland region) häva
Usage notes
Not widely known to native Swedish speakers. Primarily used in certain regions of Norrland in Sweden.
Conjugation
Active | Passive | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Infinitive | he | hes | ||
Supine | hett | hetts | ||
Imperative | he | — | ||
Imper. plural1 | hen | — | ||
Present | Past | Present | Past | |
Indicative | her | hedde | hes | heddes |
Ind. plural1 | he | hedde | hes | heddes |
Subjunctive2 | he | hedde | hes | heddes |
Participles | ||||
Present participle | heende | |||
Past participle | hedd | |||
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs. |
he - Tokelauan
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈhe/
- Hyphenation: he
Article
he
Derived terms
he - Turkish
Noun
he (definite accusative heyi, plural heler)
- The name of the Latin-script letter H.
Noun
he
- Letter of the Arabic alphabet: ه
Particle
he
- Alternative form of ha
Interjection
he
- Alternative form of ha
he - Yola
Pronoun
he
- Alternative form of hea
he - Yoruba
Pronunciation
- IPA: /hē/
Verb
he
- to come across, to come by
- Mo rí ẹ̀bùn he, mo sì bẹ̀rẹ̀ sí í ṣí i. ― I came across a gift and started to open it.
Usage notes
- often used in a serial verb construction with rí.
Pronunciation
- IPA: /hè/
Verb
hè
Usage notes
- he when followed by a direct object.