Third person is a way of telling a story where the narrator stands outside the events, describing what the characters do and say using words like “he,” “she,” and “they” rather than “I” or “you.”

When you read Charlotte's Web, the narrator tells you what Wilbur the pig thinks and what Charlotte the spider does: “Wilbur didn't want food, he wanted love.” That's third person narration. The narrator isn't Wilbur saying “I didn't want food,” and isn't talking directly to you, but is instead describing the story from the outside.

Most novels use third person narration because it lets the writer show what multiple characters are thinking and doing, even when they're in different places. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the narrator can tell you what Lucy experiences in one part of Narnia while also showing what Edmund is doing somewhere else.

The term also appears in grammar class. First person uses “I” and “we,” second person uses “you,” and third person uses “he,” “she,” “it,” and “they.” When your teacher asks you to “write in third person,” she means you should write “The scientist conducted an experiment” rather than “I conducted my experiment.”