Personal pronouns are declinable words that express the first, second or third person and may be used instead of nouns. From a syntax perspective, personal pronouns are most commonly used as a subject or an object within a sentence. The use of personal pronouns with verbs is not obligatory as persons are indicated by the unique personal endings of the verbs.

There are three different third-person forms of the personal pronoun in the plural, according to the gender of the name or noun that’s substituted. When the word that’s substituted is masculine, for example, άνδρες (men), then αυτοί should be used. Similarly, when the word is feminine, for example, γυναίκες (women), then αυτές should be used. Last, but not least, when the word is neutral, for example, παιδιά (children), then αυτά should be used.

εγώ (egó) — “I”
εσύ (esí) — “you”
αυτός (aftós) — “he”
αυτή (aftí) — “she”
αυτό (aftó) — “it”
εμείς (emís) — “we”
εσείς (esís) — “you”
αυτοί (aftí) — “they” (masculine)
αυτές (aftés) — “they” (feminine)
αυτά (aftá) — “they” (neutral)

A characteristic of these pronouns is that they can stand alone in speech, just like in the second sentence of the following example.

- Ποιος θα πάει να φέρει ψωμί;
- Εγώ.

Εμείς μένουμε στο ξενοδοχείο, Ελένη. Εσείς πού μένετε;
Αυτοί θέλουν να πάνε σε μια ταβέρνα, όμως εμείς θέλουμε να πάμε για μπάνιο.
Τα παιδιά φορούσαν ελληνικές παραδοσιακές στολές και χόρευαν. Αυτά φαίνονταν πολύ χαρούμενα.

*Note that in sentences like in the example above, the pronoun Αυτά can also be omitted when it’s understood by the context whom we’re talking about. While in English, it’s indispensable to use the pronoun “they,” in Greek, it can be omitted. This is because the form of the verb indicates what person we’re talking about, in this case, the third-person plural.