Russian uses pronouns in much the same way English does; they take the place of, or refer back to nouns. The table below shows the correspondence between Russian and English pronouns:

As you can see by this table, Russian has two pronouns for the second person you. Ты is informal and singular; вы is formal and/or plural. (See the comments on ты andвы in Lesson 3).

As in English, Russian pronouns change form as their function changes in the sentence. Take a look at the following sentences:

I know you.

You know me.

I changes to me when it switches from the role of subject to the role of object.

Я зна́ю вас.

Вы зна́ете меня́.