Li refers to one male person and ŝi to one female person. Their direct-object forms are lin and ŝin; their possessives are lia and ŝia. When the subject refers back to itself, however, Esperanto normally switches to the gender-neutral reflexive sin/sia rather than repeating lin/ŝin or lia/ŝia.
Basic reference
Both pronouns are singular and third person: they refer to someone who is neither the speaker nor the addressee.
Marko laboras en la biblioteko. Li respondecas pri la historia kolekto.
Marko works at the library. He is responsible for the historical collection.
Amina alvenos morgaŭ. Ŝi restos ĉe ni dum semajno.
Amina will arrive tomorrow. She will stay with us for a week.
Ĉu Petro jam telefonis? — Ne, sed li sendis mesaĝon.
Has Petro called yet? — No, but he sent a message.
Esperanto normally uses a personal pronoun only when the intended person is recoverable. A name or full noun phrase introduces or re-establishes the referent; the pronoun then maintains it. As a basic rule, Esperanto does not use li or ŝi for ordinary inanimate objects.
For an animal whose sex is known or which is treated as an individual, li or ŝi is possible and often natural. Neutral ĝi remains standard for animals when sex or personification is irrelevant.
Lin and ŝin as direct objects
Add accusative -n when the pronoun is the direct object.
Mi renkontis Leon ĉe la stacidomo kaj invitis lin al tagmanĝo.
I met Leo at the station and invited him to lunch.
Ni ne vidis Klaran hieraŭ, sed ni vidos ŝin vendrede.
We didn't see Klara yesterday, but we'll see her on Friday.
After ordinary prepositions, use the basic forms: kun li, por ŝi, al li, pri ŝi. No extra -n is required simply because the English form is “him” or “her.”
Mi parolis kun ŝi kaj poste sendis la dokumentojn al li.
I spoke with her and later sent the documents to him.
Because case marks the object, fronting is possible:
Lin mi rekonis tuj, sed ŝin mi neniam antaŭe renkontis.
I recognized him immediately, but I had never met her before.
The neutral order would place the objects after the verbs; the fronted order is contrastive.
Lia and ŝia: whose, not what gender
Lia identifies a male possessor or associated person; ŝia identifies a female one. The ending -j agrees with plural possessed things, and -n marks the case of the possessed phrase.
Leo serĉas sian telefonon, sed liajn ŝlosilojn mi jam trovis.
Leo is looking for his phone, but I've already found his keys.
Eva pruntedonis siajn mapojn al Klara. Klara poste redonis ŝiajn mapojn.
Eva lent her maps to Klara. Klara later returned Eva's maps.
The connected example deliberately contrasts siajn with ŝiajn. Siajn mapojn belongs to the first sentence's subject Eva. In the second sentence, subject Klara uses ŝiajn to point to the other woman, Eva.
The possessor's gender does not control agreement:
| Possessor | Possessed phrase | Form |
|---|---|---|
| one man | one book | lia libro |
| one man | several books | liaj libroj |
| one woman | one letter as object | ŝian leteron |
| one woman | several letters as object | ŝiajn leterojn |
Li/ŝi versus the reflexive si
When a third-person subject is also the object, use sin. Repeating lin or ŝin normally introduces a different person of the same gender.
Leo vidis sin en la spegulo.
Leo saw himself in the mirror.
Leo vidis lin en la spegulo.
Leo saw him—another man—in the mirror.
Amina fotis sin antaŭ la muzeo.
Amina photographed herself in front of the museum.
Amina fotis ŝin antaŭ la muzeo.
Amina photographed her—another woman—in front of the museum.
The same opposition holds for possession:
Ŝi montris al mi sian oficejon.
She showed me her own office.
Ŝi montris al mi ŝian oficejon.
She showed me another woman's office.
Si has no gender and can refer to a singular or plural third-person subject. It cannot itself be the subject: do not say Si venis. It also cannot refer to mi, ni, or vi.
Clause boundaries reset the reflexive center
In a finite subordinate clause, sin/sia normally refers to that subordinate clause's subject, not to the subject of the main clause.
Petro diris, ke Marko fotis sin.
Petro said that Marko photographed himself. (Sin refers to Marko.)
Petro diris, ke Marko fotis lin.
Petro said that Marko photographed him. (Lin can refer to Petro or another male person, not reflexively to Marko.)
This local-reference rule is the explicit normative core reaffirmed by the Akademio. Infinitives, participles, and action nouns create genuine advanced edge cases; those belong on the dedicated Clause Boundaries for Si page.
Avoiding ambiguous pronoun chains
If two accessible people have the same gender, li or ŝi may have more than one plausible antecedent. Agreement cannot solve that problem.
Marta telefonis al Ana kiam ŝi forlasis la oficejon.
Marta called Ana when she left the office. (She is ambiguous.)
Rewrite by repeating the relevant name or changing the clause:
Kiam Ana forlasis la oficejon, Marta telefonis al ŝi.
When Ana left the office, Marta called her.
Post kiam Marta forlasis la oficejon, ŝi telefonis al Ana.
After Marta left the office, she called Ana.
The last sentence repeats Marta before using ŝi, making the intended chain easy to recover. In high-stakes prose, repeating the name again can be even more explicit.
Pronouns are economical only while reference remains recoverable. Repeating a name is not bad style when it prevents a false inference.
Generic and gender-neutral human reference
In foundational and traditional Esperanto, li can refer generically to a person whose sex is unknown or irrelevant. That usage is official and historically well attested, but many contemporary speakers consider masculine-as-default unclear or exclusionary.
Clear standard alternatives include li aŭ ŝi, tiu persono, repeating the role noun, or recasting with oni or a plural. The proposed singular pronoun ri is attested in contemporary usage but remains non-official; the Akademio's 2021 statement expressly took no position on its advisability for at least ten years.
Se kliento bezonas helpon, tiu persono povas telefoni al nia servo.
If a customer needs help, that person can call our service.
Do not silently treat singular ili as an established Esperanto equivalent of English singular “they.” Standard ili is plural. See Ri and Gender-Neutral Reference for an honest treatment of current variation.
Common Mistakes
Forgetting the circumflex on ŝi
❌ Si laboras kun Marko.
Incorrect for ‘She works with Marko’ — si is the reflexive pronoun and cannot be a subject.
✅ Ŝi laboras kun Marko.
She works with Marko.
Adding accusative after a preposition
❌ Mi iris kun lin al la banko.
Incorrect — kun takes the basic pronoun form.
✅ Mi iris kun li al la banko.
I went with him to the bank.
Repeating li for a reflexive object
❌ Petro razis lin antaŭ la intervjuo.
Wrong for ‘Petro shaved himself’ — lin denotes another man.
✅ Petro razis sin antaŭ la intervjuo.
Petro shaved before the interview.
Making the possessive agree with the possessor
❌ Ŝi perdis ŝia pasporton.
Incorrect — the accusative possessed noun requires ŝian, and her own passport normally requires sian.
✅ Ŝi perdis sian pasporton.
She lost her passport.
Key Takeaways
- Li/lin/lia refer to one male person; ŝi/ŝin/ŝia refer to one female person.
- Possessive endings agree with what is possessed, not with the possessor.
- Use sin/sia when a third-person subject refers back to itself; repeating the ordinary pronoun points elsewhere.
- A finite subordinate clause establishes its own reflexive center.
- Repeat a name or role noun whenever two same-gender antecedents make a pronoun ambiguous.
Related Topics
- Personal Pronouns: OverviewA1 — Learn Esperanto personal pronouns as a system of person, number, accusative marking, possession, and reflexive reference.
- Ĝi for Nonhuman and Contextual ReferenceA2 — Use ĝi, ĝin, and ĝia for singular nonhuman referents while distinguishing noun reference, reflexivity, and clause reference.
- Ri and Gender-Neutral ReferenceB1 — Understand the nonofficial but established pronoun ri, its regular forms, its uses, and audience-sensitive alternatives.
- Accusative Personal PronounsA1 — Add -n to a personal pronoun when it is a direct object, while leaving pronouns after ordinary prepositions unmarked.
- The Reflexive Pronoun SiA1 — Use si and sin when a third-person subject refers back to itself, and distinguish reflexive reference from ordinary third-person pronouns.
- Pronoun Reference and AmbiguityB1 — Track pronoun antecedents through person, number, case, reflexive binding, and strategic repetition when context allows more than one reading.