What is "personal pronoun"

Personal \Per"son*al\ (p[~e]r"s[u^]n*al), a. [L. personalis: cf. F. personnel.]

1. Pertaining to human beings as distinct from things.

   Every man so termed by way of personal difference.
   --Hooker.

2. Of or pertaining to a particular person; relating to, or affecting, an individual, or each of many individuals; peculiar or proper to private concerns; not public or general; as, personal comfort; personal desire.

   The words are conditional, -- If thou doest well, -- and so personal to Cain.
   --Locke.

3. Pertaining to the external or bodily appearance; corporeal; as, personal charms.
   --Addison.

4. Done in person; without the intervention of another. ``Personal communication.''
   --Fabyan.

   The immediate and personal speaking of God.
   --White.

5. Relating to an individual, his character, conduct, motives, or private affairs, in an invidious and offensive manner; as, personal reflections or remarks.

6. (Gram.) Denoting person; as, a personal pronoun.

   Personal action (Law), a suit or action by which a man claims a debt or personal duty, or damages in lieu of it; or wherein he claims satisfaction in damages for an injury to his person or property, or the specific recovery of goods or chattels; -- opposed to real action.

   Personal equation. (Astron.) See under Equation.

   Personal estate or Personal property (Law), movables; chattels; -- opposed to real estate or property. It usually consists of things temporary and movable, including all subjects of property not of a freehold nature.

   Personal identity (Metaph.), the persistent and continuous unity of the individual person, which is attested by consciousness.

   Personal pronoun (Gram.), one of the pronouns I, thou, he, she, it, and their plurals.

   Personal representatives (Law), the executors or administrators of a person deceased.

   Personal rights, rights appertaining to the person; as, the rights of a personal security, personal liberty, and private property.

   Personal tithes. See under Tithe.

   Personal verb (Gram.), a verb which is modified or inflected to correspond with the three persons.

n. 1 A pronoun which, in English, refers to one or a combination of the following: 2 Any pronoun, with an antecedent, standing in as the subject or object of a verb.

n. a pronoun expressing a distinction of person

Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person – first person (as I), second person (as you), or third person (as he, she, it). Personal pronouns may also take different forms depending on number (usually singular or plural), grammatical or natural gender, case, and formality. The term "personal" is used here purely to signify the grammatical sense; personal pronouns are not limited to people and can also refer to animals and objects (as the English personal pronoun it usually does).

The re-use in some languages of one personal pronoun to indicate a second personal pronoun with formality or social distance – commonly a second person plural to signify second person singular formal – is known as the T–V distinction, from the Latin pronouns tu and vos. Examples are the majestic plural in English and the use of "vous" in place of "tu" in French

For specific details of the personal pronouns used in the English language, see English personal pronouns.