y / thị / hắn

Each of these pronouns belongs to a specific register and carries distinct nuances:

• Hắn (He/Him): Highly frequent. It is widely used in literature for male protagonists to establish narrative distance, a rustic or peasant setting, or to imply the character is flawed, of lower social status, or an anti-hero. In casual speech, it is very common to refer to a male peer, a romantic rival, a criminal, or someone the speaker disrespects. However, it can also be used playfully or affectionately (e.g., a girl referring to her boyfriend, or a mother to her son). (Note: While overwhelmingly masculine in standard Vietnamese, some Central dialects use hắn as a gender-neutral pronoun).
• Thị (She/Her): Archaic and literary. It is rarely used in modern spoken Vietnamese, surviving almost exclusively in historical fiction and formal police or journalistic reporting to refer to a female suspect. It carries a deliberately dismissive or derogatory tone, stripping the woman of respect. In legal and journalistic contexts, it frequently acts as a pronoun placed directly before a suspect's name or initial (e.g., thị N.). This usage stems from the fact that Thị is the traditional middle name marker for Vietnamese women. Note that having Thị in a legal name (e.g., Nguyễn Thị Hương) is completely neutral and standard; the derogatory tone only applies when used as a standalone pronoun or before a suspect's name.
• Y (He/Him): Formal and literary in standard/Northern Vietnamese. Mostly found in written narratives, legal documents, and crime reporting. In modern police and journalistic reporting, it is used almost exclusively for male suspects and often carries a dismissive tone (though formal police reporting sometimes uses the compound pronoun y thị to refer to a female suspect). Like thị, it can be placed directly before a name or initial in crime reporting (e.g., y T.). (Note: A capitalized Y before a name, such as Y Khang or Y Moan, is actually a standard proper name prefix for men of the Ê Đê ethnic minority, not this dismissive pronoun). Derived from the Chinese pronoun 伊, y is historically and inherently gender-neutral. In Southern Vietnamese dialects, y was traditionally used as a familiar third-person pronoun for a peer of either gender, but this usage has declined significantly in modern everyday speech, with speakers overwhelmingly preferring nó or contracted pronouns. Do not confuse the pronoun y with the ubiquitous Sino-Vietnamese noun root y meaning 'medicine/medical' (e.g., y tế, y tá) or 'clothing' (e.g., y phục).

Grammatical Rules:
As pronouns, thị and y are strictly lowercase (unless starting a sentence). This is crucial for distinguishing the derogatory pronoun thị from the neutral middle name Thị, and the pronoun y from proper names. Furthermore, like all Vietnamese pronouns, these do not change form whether they are the subject or the object of the sentence (unlike English he/him, she/her).

Because they are absolute pronouns, they inherently mark the third person. Therefore, they cannot attach to demonstrative particles like ấy (e.g., hắn ấy is ungrammatical). This distinguishes them from words with a similarly dismissive tone like gã (guy) and ả (gal), which are nouns and therefore can take the demonstrative particle (e.g., gã ấy, ả ấy). However, they frequently pair with the particle ta (hắn ta, thị ta) to add narrative emphasis. To pluralize hắn, pair it with plural markers like bọn or tụi (e.g., bọn hắn, tụi hắn). Note that tụi is especially prevalent in Southern Vietnamese. However, y and thị are almost never pluralized in modern Vietnamese; reporters default to bọn chúng or các đối tượng for a group of suspects.

Do not confuse these with kinship pronouns + ấy (like anh ấy, cô ấy), which are polite and establish a social relationship, or with nó, which is used for inanimate objects and abstract concepts ('it'), as well as for animals, children, or very close inferiors.