Most of the practices explained in the article on personal pronoun “you” in Japanese also apply to “he/him“, “she/her” and “they/them” with some differences.
Just like “あなた”, it is very rude to refer to your senior with “彼” or “彼女”, and it sounds too formal and/or pompous for everybody else. If you know the person’s name and/or job title, those will be used instead.
- 山本さんのことは知ってますか？ええ、山本さんはよく知ってます -> Do you know Mr./Ms. Yamamoto? Yes, I know Mr./Ms. Yamamoto really well
- 田中課長はこの事を知ってますか？はい、課長には話しておきました -> Does Chief Tanaka know about this? Yes, I already told Chief Tanaka
“彼” and “彼女” also mean “boyfriend” and “girlfriend”, so if you refer to someone with those, the listener could assume you and him/her are in relationship.
Other expressions commonly used rather than “彼/彼女/彼等” include “あの人“, “あの人達” (literally “that person, those people”), “あちら” (literally “over there”), “向こう” (also literally “over there”), “あいつ/あいつ等“, “奴/奴等“
- 山本さんのこと知ってます？ええ、あの人のことは長いこと -> Do you know Mr./Ms. Yamamoto? Yes, I know that person, him, her, for a long time
Note that the plural of “彼” is “彼等 (かれら)” while the plural of “彼女” is “彼女達 (かのじょたち)”. In other words “彼達” and “彼女等” are not commonly used.