Object pronouns (me, you, him, her...)

You already know that subject pronouns like I and she stand in for the subject of a sentence — the person or thing the sentence is about, often the one doing the action. But once that same person or thing is on the receiving end of the action, or comes after a preposition like to or with, English switches to a different set of words: object pronouns.

Quick shortcut: in a simple statement, subject pronouns come before the main verb; object pronouns come after the verb or after a preposition.

The object pronouns

Notice that you and it don't change at all — the same word works as subject and object. All the others do change: I → me, he → him, she → her, we → us, they → them.

Them isn't only for more than one thing — like they, it can also refer to a single person whose gender you don't know or haven't mentioned, or who uses they/them: Someone left their bag here — can you give it back to them?

After the verb

An object pronoun usually replaces a noun that comes right after the verb — the person or thing the action happens to:

• I love this song. → I love it.
• She's teaching the students. → She's teaching them.
• We saw Tom and Anna at the shop. → We saw them at the shop.

(For a pet whose sex you know, people often say him or her instead of it — see Subject pronouns.)

Some verbs can take two objects — a person and a thing. When the person is a pronoun and the thing is a noun, the person usually comes first:

• I gave her the keys.
• Can you send me the file?

But when both the person and the thing are pronouns, English usually puts the thing first, followed by to or for and the person:

• I gave them to her. (not usually I gave her them)

After a preposition

When a personal pronoun comes after a preposition like to, for, with, about, from or of, use the object form, not the subject form:

• This letter is for me.
• Come with us.
• She's talking about him.
• ✅ between you and me, never ❌ between you and I — this exact phrase is one of the most common object-pronoun mistakes, even among fluent speakers.

After be: "It's me"

In everyday spoken English, short answers with be normally use the same form as object pronouns:

• Who's there? — It's me.
• Who broke the vase? — Was it her?

Very formal English sometimes uses It is I instead, but you won't need that at this level — ✅ It's me is the normal, natural thing to say.

Common mistakes

• ❌ Give it to I. → ✅ Give it to me. (a preposition needs an object pronoun, not a subject pronoun)
• ❌ Her is my sister. → ✅ She is my sister. (the subject of a sentence needs a subject pronoun — see Subject pronouns)
• ❌ I saw she at the market. → ✅ I saw her at the market. (after the verb, use the object pronoun)
• ❌ between you and I → ✅ between you and me (both words after a preposition need to be object pronouns)
• ❌ Can you help we? → ✅ Can you help us? (we is only ever a subject pronoun — the object form is us)
• ❌ I saw Tom him yesterday. → ✅ I saw Tom yesterday. / ✅ I saw him yesterday. (don't use the noun and the object pronoun together — pick one)

Quick check

Choose the correct object pronoun:

1. Can you call ____ (I) later?
2. We invited ____ (they) to dinner.
3. This present is for ____ (you).
4. I don't understand ____ (it) — can you explain?
5. She sat next to ____ (he).

Key takeaways

• Use object pronouns — me, you, him, her, it, us, them — for the object of a verb, or after a preposition.
• You and it stay the same as subject pronouns; the rest change (I → me, he → him, she → her, we → us, they → them).
• A personal pronoun after a preposition like to, for, with, about takes the object form: for me, not for I.
• In everyday spoken English, It's me is normal — the formal It is I is rarely used.