Who (pronoun)

The English pronoun who is an interrogative pronoun and a relative pronoun, used primarily to refer to persons.

Unmarked, who is the pronoun's subjective form; its inflected forms are the objective whom and the possessive whose. The set has derived indefinite forms whoever, whomever, and whoseever, as well as a further, earlier such set whosoever, whomsoever, and whosesoever (see also -ever).

Etymology

The interrogative and relative pronouns who derive from the Old English singular interrogative hwā, and whose paradigm is set out below:

It was not until the end of the 17th century that who became the only pronoun that could ask about the identity of persons and what fully lost this ability.

"The first occurrences of wh-relatives date from the twelfth century (with the possible exception hwær (see Kivimaa 1966: 35)). The wh- form does not become frequent, however, until the fourteenth century." Today, relative whose can still refer to non-persons (e.g., the car whose door won't open).

The spelling 'who' does not correspond to the word's pronunciation /huː/; it is the spelling that represents the expected outcome of hwā, while the pronunciation represents a divergent outcome – for details see Pronunciation of English ⟨wh⟩. The word is cognate with Latin quis and Greek ποιός.

Uses

As interrogative pronoun

Who and its derived forms can be used as interrogative pronouns, to form questions:

"Who did that?"

"Who did you meet this morning?" (formal: "Who(m) did you meet this morning?")

"Who did you speak to?" (formal: "To whom did you speak?" or "Whom did you speak to?")

"Whoever could have done that?" (emphatic form, expressing disbelief)

"Whose bike is that?" (use of whose as possessive determiner/adjective; see possessive and English possessive)

"Whose do you like best?" (use of whose as possessive pronoun)

The same forms (though not usually the emphatic ones) are used to make indirect questions:

"We don't know who did that."

"I wonder who(m) she met this morning."

The corresponding form when referring to non-humans is what (which has the emphatic form whatever, and no possessive form). Another similar interrogative is which – this can refer to either humans or non-humans, normally implying selection from a particular set, as either interrogative pronoun ("Which do you prefer?") or interrogative determiner (adjective) ("Which man should I choose?").