Study materials
Two people, two actions, and the words for them suddenly change.
I see her.
She sees me.
The people are the same, but the forms differ. In English a pronoun (I, me, she, her) changes not with the person but with its position: one form stands in front of the verb, the other behind it.
Two columns worth knowing
There are not many forms, and they come in pairs. The left column is the one who acts. The right column is the one the action is aimed at.
| Before the verb | After the verb |
|---|---|
| I | me |
| you | you |
| he, she, it | him, her, it |
| we | us |
| they | them |
Notice two pleasant details. You and it are identical in both columns, so only five pairs have to be remembered.
Before the verb or after it
There is one rule: look at where the pronoun stands. In front of the action it is the left column, behind it the right one.
We invited Anna.
Anna invited us.
After the prepositions to, for, with, from and about it is always the right column too.
Talk to her.
Come with me.
This letter is from him.
It stands for everything that is not a person
English keeps he and she for people. Everything else, from a cup to the weather to a whole situation, becomes it.
Where is my phone? It is on the table.
It is raining.
And one purely written habit. The pronoun I is always capitalised, wherever it stands in the sentence.
When there are two people
This is where even native speakers slip. In fact the rule does not change: the form depends on the position, not on how many people are named.
Ben and I work together.
She spoke to Ben and me.
There is an easy way to check yourself. Remove the other name and listen to what is left: I work together sounds right, and spoke to me does too. But spoke to I grates immediately.
The mistakes everyone makes
The first is putting the left form after the verb.
She helps I. → She helps me.
The second is putting the left form after a preposition.
Give it to she. → Give it to her.
The third is opening the sentence with me.
Me and Ben work here. → Ben and I work here.
All three are caught by one glance at the sentence. Does the pronoun come before the action or after it? That answer is the choice of form.
Try it right now
Take any person from your day and make two English sentences about them: in one they act, in the other the action is aimed at them.
Then add a third with the preposition to or with. If the forms did not get mixed up, the topic is yours.