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Hi. I'm Rebecca from
engVid. I'm so glad you
clicked on this lesson
because today's lesson
is one of the most important lessons ever.
Why? Because this mistake that I'm going to
tell you about is one
of the most frequently
made mistakes,
unfortunately, not only by
English learners, but
also by English speakers.
So, hey, if there are
any English speakers
watching this, please keep watching because
you would like to correct this too. But for
the English learners,
it's even more important
because you're doing
exams, you're going for
job interviews, and people are judging your
English a little bit more critically. Okay?
So, what are we going
to talk about today?
We're talking about
subject and object pronouns.
Now, I know that doesn't sound very sexy,
but it's so important that you get it right
because it's a very
basic mistake. All right?
And I hope that after
this lesson, you will
get it right. I'm going
to do my best to explain
it to you so you
completely get it. Okay?
Here we go. All right.
So, first of all, what's
a subject and what's
an object, and what's
a pronoun? Because
I said subject, object,
pronouns. There are
three words there. Okay?
They're kind of like
grammar words. So, the
subject of a sentence
in English is the doer
of the action. Okay?
It's the person that
does the action. And
the object receives the
action. Okay? I'm
going to explain it to you
exactly, give you an
example and everything,
no problem. All right?
And what's a pronoun?
A pronoun is a word
that takes the place of
a noun. So, for example,
I could say "John",
okay? "John likes
me." Or I could say "He
likes me." So, "He"
replaced "John". All right?
Now, let's look at this
chart because here
what I've written for
you are basically all the
subject pronouns and
all the object pronouns.
Okay? Now, what's the problem? The problem
is that sometimes people are using object
pronouns when they
should be using subject
pronouns, and vice versa.
So, sometimes they're
using subject pronouns when they should be
using object pronouns. All right? So, let's
see how this works.
So, in this sentence, "I
love movies." Right?
The "I" is a subject.
It's doing the action.
The action is love. All
right? So this is a
subject pronoun. Right?
But in this sentence,
"Please call me", the
subject is understood
as "you", but the action
is being received to
"me". "Please call me."
So, "me" is an object
pronoun. Okay? I'm going
to give you so many
examples that you're going
to get it, even if
you didn't get it yet.
Okay?
Let's try it with this
little rhyme. And you
can say it along with
me if you want, if it
helps you to kind of
get that rhythm in your
head. All right? Because
language is not about
rules and all of that
only. It starts with
that, but finally it
becomes about the rhythm,
and whether it's going
to sound right to your
ear. So, let's say these
sentences, and we're
going to run through them with all of
these examples. Okay? Here we go.
For example, "I like Jack",
"Jack likes me." Okay?
"I like Jack", subject, "I",
"Jack likes me", object.
"You like Jack", "Jack
likes you". Here, you
can see with the
word "you" that it's the
same. Okay? So there we don't usually make
mistakes because it's the same. Here, "He
likes Jack", "Jack
likes him". Okay? "She
likes Jack", say it with
me, "Jack likes her".
"We like Jack", "Jack likes us", "They like
Jack", "Jack likes them". Okay? So what do
you notice? That all of
these subject pronouns
usually come at the
beginning of a sentence,
and the object pronouns
usually come towards
the middle or end of a
sentence. Okay? You'll
see that, and that's
how it is. And there
are a few other patterns
which I'll show you.
So let's look at some
examples. Okay? So we
said the first one
already. "I love movies",
subject. "We live here",
right? Also, subject.
Yeah? You see it up
there? "She studies hard",
right? Subject. Yeah?
All of these are subjects.
"They watch videos",
like you are doing right
now. "They" is the
subject, and I hope if you're
watching this video
that you also subscribe
to my channel because I keep giving you all
of these kind of shortcut lessons that will
really save you a lot of time and years in
learning English. Okay? So subscribe. "He
and I are good friends."
Now, look what happens
here. Here it was
pretty straightforward,
right? Yeah, of course.
I know, Rebecca. I
know what the subject
is. But here, sometimes
people get confused when we have more than
one subject. So here it was "he" and "I",
but these are still the
subjects, so we still
have to take the word
from here, take the
pronoun from up here,
and not from down here.
So we have to say "he"
and "I". Now, why do
we say "he" and "I",
and not "I" and "he"?
Because usually in
English we're very polite,
we let other people go
first through the door,
and we also let other
people go first in the
sentence. All right?
So even if it was five
people, like "she", "he",
and "I", okay? "They"
and "I", but "I" comes
last. All right? So
that's how it is. But
the most important thing
is not just where the
"I" is, but that you're
saying "I" and you're
not saying "me". So
you cannot say "he" and "me". No. Not if
you're talking about the subject. You have
to say "he" and "I".
And if you're not sure,
what you can do is
take out that other person
or people and just say "I am good friends".
That makes sense. But if I said "me am good
friends", no, that doesn't
sound right. Correct?
So that's one way we
can tell. Sometimes people
make the same mistake
here. Instead of saying
"he", they'll say "him".
"Him" and "I". No. Again,
"him" belongs on the
other side, the object,
right? Not the subject.
All right? So that's
something else. Now
let's go to the other side
and look at some
examples of the objects and
how we usually use
them. So, "Please call me",
right? Receiving the
action of the call. "I thank
them." Now, in this
sentence, we have a subject
and an object, right?
What's the subject?
"I", right? Subject. Because I'm doing the
action. "I thanked", and "I thanked" who?
"Them". Okay? So this here is the object.
All right? Again, this tends to usually be
at the beginning of a sentence; that
tends to be at the end of a sentence.
Now, another very
important clue is when you
have a preposition.
So whatever follows the
preposition should be
what? The objects. And
the mistake that I'm
hearing a lot on TV,
and writing, on the internet, and so on, is
that people are after... The prepositions
are using these subject
pronouns, and that's
wrong; that's incorrect.
Like, especially
if you're doing an exam or you're writing
a job application, that's a bad mistake to
make. Okay? So
don't make that one.
So let's look at the
example. "Give it to
John and me." Okay?
So after "to", so that's
"to" is the preposition,
"Give it to John and
me." Okay? Because
it's an object we want,
not "John and I".
And again, if you're not
sure, take out "John"
and say... Do we usually
say "Give it to I"? No.
We say "Give it to me".
Okay? "To me", "for
me", "after me", "before
me". All right? Any
preposition, after that,
you're going to use
the object pronoun. You
got it.
Another example, "She works for us." Again,
after the preposition, you want to use the
object pronoun, "us".
Not "for", "we". And
also, after the verb
"to be", we usually use
these object pronouns.
Now, in the old days,
like in... Or in Shakespeare,
somebody might
say "It is I", but
usually we don't say that
anymore. We just say
"It's me." Okay? "It's
him." So we're using
the object pronouns after
the verb "to be". "It's
me." Okay? Object
pronoun. "It's them."
Object pronoun. All right?
I hope you're beginning
to see a lot of the
correct patterns that
the subjects go first,
the objects go usually
towards the end, the
subject does the action,
the object receives
the action. And if you
have a compound subject,
don't mix them up. Okay?
Don't take something
from here and then something from here. No,
no, no. Don't do that. All right? Just take
subjects. And on that
side, just take objects.
All right? This is
really, really important.
You might want to write out some sentences,
write out lots of sentences. If you want,
you can put them down in
the comments or whatever,
but let's practice a
little bit more to make
sure that you've got it.
Okay, are you ready to
own this subject? Here
we go. All right? So,
I made it a little bit
easier for you. I kept the chart. Okay? In
fact, you might want to copy this chart in
your notes. I think
it's very helpful to see
it visually, see it as
being different. Right?
The subjects up there,
the objects down here.
All right? But now
let's try to apply them.
Here we go. Number one, do we say, "He and
I went out for dinner", or do we say, "Him
and me went out for
dinner"? Which one is
right? If you need to,
you can pause the video,
think about it, come
back. Okay? And if not,
just stay along with
me. Here we go. What's
the answer? The correct answer is the first
one, "He and I went out for dinner." Okay?
So this is wrong. Why?
Because this is the
subject. Right? The
subject of the sentence,
the doer of the action.
So we want the subject
pronouns, which are
up here, "he" and "I".
And of course, I explained to you
before that "I" goes last. All right?
Next, "Why are you
looking at she?" or "Why
are you looking at her?"
Okay? Unfortunately,
we hear this question a lot in the world.
All right? So, what should it be? Which one
is right? It should be... This is correct,
this is wrong. Okay? First, it's at... It's
towards the end.
Right? Second, it's also
after a preposition,
"at her". Right? So after
a preposition, you
need to use the object
pronouns, not the
subject pronouns. All right?
"At her", "to her", "for her",
"with her". All right? Good.
Next, number three,
"She and my sister are
friends." or "Her and
my sister are friends."
Which one is right? By
now, you should know
it like that in a
heartbeat. Right? Tell me.
Which one is it? Okay?
Which one should I
cancel? This one.
Okay? And this is correct.
All right? This is good.
We'll just skip that.
All right, so, "She and
my sister". Why "she"?
Because this is the
subject. All right? Subject,
not object. All right?
"She and my sister".
Good.
Number four, "Please return the book
to he." or "Please return the book to him."
Think. Subject or object?
Is it at the beginning?
No. Is it at the end? Yes.
Is it after a preposition?
Yes. So, what does it need to be? It's an
object. Okay. What's the object? "Him", not
"he". So, we will
cancel "he" and we will
circle "him" as being
the right answer. "Please
return the book to
him", "for him", "with
him". Okay? All of
those. "Before him", "after
him". All right? All of those.
Next, "I bought this
for we" or "I bought this
for us", which is
correct? Again, analyze.
What's the subject of
this sentence? The subject
or the doer of the
action is "I". Okay? This
is the subject. "I
bought", right? This is
the verb. "I bought this
for", so now we need
an object, so it should
be "us" and not "we".
Okay? "For us", because
"we" is the subject
pronoun and "us" is the object pronoun.
I know, it seems like we're saying it again
and again, but that's how
our brain remembers. All right.
Next, "Me and her work
together" or "You tell
me the right answer."
Okay? Because this is
wrong. All right? "Me"
is an object pronoun,
but here we have
the subject. "Her" is an
object pronoun, and
yet we hear these kind of
sentences. Completely
wrong. Okay? Two object
pronouns instead of two subject pronouns.
So what are the correct subject pronouns we
should use here? So
instead of "me", we should
use what? "I". Instead
of "her", we should
use "she". Right? Yes. But do we say "I and
she work together"? No. So we also have to
do a little switch there.
Right? And you need
to say "she" and "I".
Okay? "She and I work
together", this is
totally, totally wrong.
Even if you hear it in
a movie or in a show,
or if you read it on the
internet, it's wrong, and
it'll always be wrong.
It's actually considered
very poor English, so you really don't
want to make this kind of mistake. Okay?
So, if you want to practice this and master
this very important subject-okay?-go to our
website, www.engvid.com.
Immediately do the quiz.
And before you go
there... Sorry, one second.
Please subscribe. Okay?
Because that way you
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You don't need to
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Okay? Then go to engVid,
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Find the things that you
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Wish you all the best. All the best with
your English, really. Always. Bye for now.
Quiz
Question 1 of 10In the sentence "I love movies", what role does "I" play?
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About this lesson
Clear up confusion between subject and object pronouns: he/him, I/me, she/her, and more.