Let C\mathcal C be a such that each hom-class HomC(A,B)\mathrm{Hom}_{\mathcal C}(A,B) is a set (i.e. C\mathcal C is locally small). Fix an A∈CA\in\mathcal C and a F:C→SetF:\mathcal C\to \mathbf{Set}.

Write the representable functor

hA:=HomC(A,−):C→Set,h^A := \mathrm{Hom}_{\mathcal C}(A,-):\mathcal C\to \mathbf{Set},

which is a .

There is a natural bijection

Nat(hA, F)  ≅  F(A),\mathrm{Nat}(h^A,\,F)\;\cong\;F(A),

natural in both AA and FF, where Nat(−,−)\mathrm{Nat}(-,-) denotes the set of .

Explicit correspondence
  • Given η∈Nat(hA,F)\eta\in \mathrm{Nat}(h^A,F), the corresponding element of F(A)F(A) is
    ηA(idA)∈F(A),\eta_A(\mathrm{id}_A)\in F(A),
    where idA\mathrm{id}_A is the of AA.
  • Given x∈F(A)x\in F(A), define a natural transformation ηx:hA⇒F\eta^x:h^A\Rightarrow F by, for each object XX,
    ηXx:HomC(A,X)→F(X),f↦F(f)(x).\eta^x_X:\mathrm{Hom}_{\mathcal C}(A,X)\to F(X),\quad f \mapsto F(f)(x).
    Naturality follows from functoriality of FF and in C\mathcal C.

This bijection is in fact a between functors in AA and FF.

Contravariant form

For a functor G:Cop→SetG:\mathcal C^{\mathrm{op}}\to \mathbf{Set}, there is a natural bijection

Nat(HomC(−,A), G)  ≅  G(A).\mathrm{Nat}(\mathrm{Hom}_{\mathcal C}(-,A),\,G)\;\cong\;G(A).

(Here HomC(−,A)\mathrm{Hom}_{\mathcal C}(-,A) is the usual contravariant representable.)

Examples
  1. Subsets via the power set functor. Take C=Set\mathcal C=\mathbf{Set}, let AA be a set, and let F=PF=\mathcal P be the power set functor X↦P(X)X\mapsto \mathcal P(X). The Yoneda lemma gives a bijection
    Nat(Hom(A,−),P)≅P(A),\mathrm{Nat}(\mathrm{Hom}(A,-),\mathcal P)\cong \mathcal P(A),
    so natural transformations correspond exactly to subsets S⊆AS\subseteq A. Concretely, S⊆AS\subseteq A yields ηXS(f)=f(S)⊆X\eta^S_X(f)=f(S)\subseteq X.
  1. Picking an element of a group naturally. Take C=Grp\mathcal C=\mathbf{Grp}, let A=GA=G be a group, and let F=U:Grp→SetF=U:\mathbf{Grp}\to\mathbf{Set} be the underlying-set functor. Then
    Nat(HomGrp(G,−),U)≅U(G),\mathrm{Nat}(\mathrm{Hom}_{\mathbf{Grp}}(G,-),U)\cong U(G),
    i.e. natural transformations correspond to elements g∈Gg\in G. The corresponding ηHg:Hom(G,H)→U(H)\eta^g_H:\mathrm{Hom}(G,H)\to U(H) sends a homomorphism φ:G→H\varphi:G\to H to φ(g)∈H\varphi(g)\in H.
  1. Recovering maps into a fixed module. Let C=R-Mod\mathcal C=R\text{-}\mathbf{Mod} and take F(X)=HomR(M,X)F(X)=\mathrm{Hom}_R(M,X) viewed as a set-valued functor (forgetting the abelian group structure). Yoneda yields
    Nat(HomR(A,−), HomR(M,−))≅HomR(M,A),\mathrm{Nat}(\mathrm{Hom}_R(A,-),\,\mathrm{Hom}_R(M,-))\cong \mathrm{Hom}_R(M,A),
    so a natural way to turn maps A→XA\to X into maps M→XM\to X is the same as choosing a map M→AM\to A.