He/him and I/me: How to use personal pronouns?

1

I have a problem sometimes to determine when to use these pronouns.

I have read other articles before on this subject but I still can't grasp how to use them properly. Can someone explain to me some rules or ways to know how to use them right? Sometimes I do translations in English or write short stories and whenever it comes to this, I'm not sure if I write them correctly, I just write them how I feel it sounds right to me. "Him and I", "me and him", both sound well to me but, so how should I decide what to use?

Recently I had to translate something from Japanese and it was just this, no verb whatsoever, just 2 pronouns and the coordinating conjunction "and".

Alice B. Rabbit

Posted 2017-11-15T10:29:50.107

Reputation: 191

Alice see this answer on ELU for a rather more complete answer than you'll likely to find anywhere else. It discusses, for example, the "rule" or method suggested by @Mitch

– green_ideas – 2017-11-15T11:41:03.523

Answers

1

Take them one at a time. Then you will see how to put them together.

  • He went to the cinema.
  • I went to the cinema.

Becomes:

  • He and I went to the cinema.

Or:

  • We went to the cinema.

And:

  • She gave him a cinema ticket.
  • She gave me a cinema ticket.

Becomes:

  • She gave him and me cinema tickets.

Or:

  • She gave us cinema tickets.

Mick

Posted 2017-11-15T10:29:50.107

Reputation: 6 424

Yes, I understand it this way, but I was wondering which version to use better, like how I mentioned that I had to translate a title. I actually found a book called "He and I" (by Gabrielle Bossis) and was wondering if "Me and Him" would have also been good or not. Let's say that I want to write a short story, and I have one character that says "He and I, we are quite similar in some ways, for example...". If I were to replace with "Me and him", would it be wrong? And why? Or what about "Him and I"?

They all sound good to me, but I would like to hear more explanation. – Alice B. Rabbit – 2017-11-15T11:28:49.150

To use them properly, you shouldn't combine the subject form with the object form. If you want to break the rule for effect, that's up to you. – Mick – 2017-11-15T11:31:36.027

Thank you so much! I will read that post and hopefully I can get a better understanding! I only read a little, but wow, I wasn't taught so in depth like that during my school years. – Alice B. Rabbit – 2017-11-15T12:15:02.687

Asked: 2017-11-15T10:29:50.107

Viewed: 262 times

Active: 2018-08-23T13:53:18.553