Im

Meaning

The third-person singular pronoun — 'he', 'she', 'him', 'her', and the possessive 'his' or 'her'. Crucially, Jamaican 'im' does not mark gender: the same word serves for a man or a woman alike, with the context making clear who is meant. This single, gender-neutral form is a hallmark of Patois grammar, doing away with the English split between he/she and him/her, and 'im' is among the most common words in the language, standing in for any single person, male or female, as subject, object, or possessor.

Examples

• Im gaan a work.

  He/she has gone to work.

  Gender is understood from context, not the pronoun.

• Mi see im yesideh.

  I saw him/her yesterday.

• A im car dat.

  That's his/her car.

Origin

From English 'him', but generalised so a single gender-neutral pronoun covers 'he' and 'she' — a feature shared with several West African languages.

How it’s used

One of the trickiest points for English speakers: 'im' never tells you the gender on its own. The stronger 'shi' exists for 'she' but is used far less than 'im'.