Is who a verb?

Who is not a verb. “Who” is a pronoun that represents another noun, which is called the antecedent.

“Who” can be an interrogative pronoun or a relative pronoun.

As an interrogative pronoun, “who” is part of a question (e.g., “Who won Best Actress in 2024?”). The antecedent is the answer to the question (e.g., “Emma Stone won Best Actress in 2024”).

As a relative pronoun, “who” begins an adjective clause (which is also known as a relative clause). An adjective clause gives more information about a noun in a sentence, which is the antecedent (e.g., “Emma Stone, who won an Oscar in 2024, is one of the world’s highest paid actors”).

“Who” is also classified as a subject pronoun (versus the object pronoun “whom”). When deciding between “who” and “whom,” use “who” as a subject that performs the action or a predicate nominative that is described or renamed (e.g., “Who holds the world record for longest hair?”).

Use “whom” as a direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition (e.g., “Whom did you meet at the gala last week?”).

QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you use “who” and other interrogative and relative pronouns correctly.