hēo
In Old English, the English word 'she' is expressed as hēo.
Meaning: person (pron)
How does it change in a sentence?
hēo is the nominative singular form of the third-person feminine pronoun.
Did you know?
- An Anglo-Saxon speaker would use hēo for a woman, but also for a 'moon' or a 'ship', depending on the grammatical gender of those objects.
- The pronoun hēo is a cognate of the modern German word sie, as both descend from a common Proto-Germanic root.
- Old English used hēo as part of a strict three-gender system, requiring the speaker to know if a noun was masculine, feminine or neuter.
Examples in context
- Hēo is mid hire.She is with her.Tatoeba #13931175 by rul, translation #12335365 by rul
- Hēo tōc ūre feoh.She took our money.Tatoeba #13842045 by rul, translation #13840021 by rul
- Hēo wæs gōd catte.She was a good cat.Tatoeba #13462662 by rul, translation #13461878 by rul
- Þæt is hēo.That is she.
- 15 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Eadric and Mildryth are discussing a woman who is arriving soon.
- EadricHwǣr is sēo hlǣfdige?Where is the lady?
- MildrythHēo cymð nū tō ūs.She is coming to us now.
- EadricIs hēo ġearu?Is she ready?
- MildrythĠēa, hēo is hēr.Yes, she is here.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “she” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
