Я горжусь ими.

The dictionary form is гордиться.

This is a reflexive verb and it means to be proud of. In the sentence Я горжусь ими, горжусь is the 1st person singular present-tense form: I am proud.

Because this verb has a stem change in the я form.

• dictionary form: гордиться
• я горжусь
• ты гордишься
• он/она гордится
• мы гордимся
• вы гордитесь
• они гордятся

So the д changes to ж only in the я form. This kind of change is normal in Russian and just has to be learned as part of the conjugation.

The -сь / -ся ending is the reflexive suffix.

In this verb, it is part of the standard form:

• гордиться = to be proud of

Russian often uses reflexive verbs where English does not. Here, -сь does not literally mean myself. It is simply part of how the verb гордиться works.

Also, -сь and -ся are just two forms of the same suffix:

• after a vowel, you often get -сь
• after a consonant, you often get -ся

So:

• горжусь
• but гордится

Because гордиться requires the instrumental case.

Russian asks:

• гордиться кем? чем? = to be proud of whom? of what?

So the pronoun они changes like this:

• nominative: они
• genitive/accusative: их
• instrumental: ими

That is why the sentence uses ими.

Because Russian often uses a case ending where English uses a preposition.

In English, you say:

• proud of them

In Russian, the idea of of is built into the grammar of the noun or pronoun after гордиться. So you do not add a preposition. You simply use the instrumental case:

• горжусь ими

A very useful pattern to remember is:

• гордиться кем/чем

This is a very common question.

Russian pronouns like он, она, они often add н- after a preposition:

• с ними
• о них
• у него

But in Я горжусь ими, there is no preposition, so you use:

• ими, not ними

Compare:

• Я горжусь ими.
• Я думаю о них.

You can absolutely say Горжусь ими.

Russian often omits subject pronouns when the verb form already makes the subject clear. The ending -усь tells you it is I.

So both are correct:

• Я горжусь ими.
• Горжусь ими.

The version with Я is a little more explicit. The version without Я is very natural in conversation.

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English word order.

All of these are possible:

• Я горжусь ими. — neutral
• Горжусь ими. — natural, with I understood
• Ими я горжусь. — emphasizes them
• Я ими горжусь. — also possible, with a bit more focus on ими

So the basic meaning stays the same, but the emphasis changes.

It is present tense.

So Я горжусь ими means that this feeling is true now: I am proud of them.

The verb гордиться is imperfective, and its present tense is used for a current state or feeling.

You still use гордиться + instrumental.

Examples with pronouns:

• Я горжусь им. — proud of him / it
• Я горжусь ею. — proud of her
• Я горжусь тобой. — proud of you (singular, informal)
• Я горжусь вами. — proud of you (plural or formal)

Examples with nouns:

• Я горжусь сыном.
• Я горжусь дочерью.
• Я горжусь работой.
• Я горжусь друзьями.

So the main pattern stays the same; only the instrumental form changes.

It can refer to either people or things.

Ими is just the instrumental plural form of они, and они can mean they for people or things, depending on context.

So Я горжусь ими could refer to:

• children
• students
• friends
• achievements
• results
• projects

The sentence itself does not tell you which one; the context does.