1. What is a pronoun?
 
　　A pronoun is used in place of a noun or noun phrase, as in English. 
 
1.1. Personal pronouns
 
我(I) 你(you) 他(he) 她(she) 它(it)
我们(we) 你们(you) 他们(they) 咱们(we)   
 
 
1.2. Interrogative pronouns

 
　　 谁(who)；　　　 什么(what)； 　　 怎样(how)；　 　 哪里(where) 
 
1.3. Demonstrative pronouns
 
　　 这(this)；　　　那(that)； 　　　这里(here)； 　　这么(so) 

 
2. What is noteworthy about Chinese pronouns 
 
2.1. The economical employment of the pronoun in Chinese
 
　　As a language concentrating on comprehensibility, not on the grammatical forms, Chinese is characterized by its economical employment of pronouns. In general cases, if there is any meaning implied by a pronoun that can be understood from the context of situation, a Chinese speaker would prefer not to employ any pronoun for it in the sentence, but let the meaning go without saying.

　　Example (1): 你看见了吗？ (Have you seen it?)

　　When you ask somebody whether he has seen a specific book, knife or apple this way, he would understand what it refers to from the context of situation. Only you had better not say “你看见它了吗”, because it would be unnatural to say the pronoun denoting a thing that way.

　　Example (2): 他把手插进口袋里。 (He put his hands into his pockets.)

　　Be sure not to say that this way: 他把他的手插进他的口袋里 as in English. It sounds a little awkward to say so in Chinese.

　　Example (3): 书呢？ (Where is the book?)

　　If you are looking for your book, you can simply ask this way without any demonstrative pronoun like “这” or “那” which function like a definite article in English. Everybody would see what book you refer to in a specific context of situation. He will tell you where is the book you are looking for. Nobody will answer you this way: “There are a lot of books in the library, but I don't know which one you are looking for”. In Chinese, definite meanings often go without saying.
 
 
2.2. The limitation of the use of the 3-person pronoun “它”
 
　　Unlike in English, the 3rd person pronoun "它" and its plural form "它们" are seldom used to denote concrete objects or abstract concepts. For example, it would be unnatural to say the Chinese sentence like this:

　　我们好像少了几本书，它们到底在哪里呀？(We seem to be missing several books. Where are they now?) --- unnatural

　　A Chinese speaker would say that these ways:

　　我们好像少了几本书，这些书到底在哪里呀？(A)
　　我们好像少了几本书，到底在哪里呀？(B)

　　In general, Chinese people prefer repeating the noun "书" (as exampled in sentence A) or letting the denoting meaning go without saying (as exampled in sentence B) to using a pronoun.