Uh-oh… “Jake and I” or “Jake and me” …… compound pronouns???
- James Bowers III
- Jun 17, 2023
- 5 min read
Have you ever wondered when to use one of these:
Him and I OR him and me
He and I OR he and me
Him and me OR me and him
Jake and me OR Jake and I
*and the list goes on….
These are called compound pronouns. This is when we have two pronouns put together as one unit.
These compound pronouns are a very common problem, even for natives. Luckily, I have a little trick for you and a clear explanation.
Let’s start with the basics, personal pronouns, I and me. Starting here will help you with the trick I am going to show you.
I vs me
I - subject pronoun
Me - object pronoun
Both of these words are what we call personal pronouns, but they are used for different situations. If you don't know what a subject and object are, read this.
Look at these sentences:
I robbed the guy.
Here, the subject is “I” and the object is “the guy.”
If I say “Me robbed the guy.” I will sound weird.
The guy robbed me.
Here, the subject is “the guy” and the object is “I.”
If I say “The guy robbed I.” I will also sound weird.
Here are some more examples:
I ate the shark.
I carried the baby.
The shark ate me.
The baby carried me.
I want to keep my posts clear and easy to read, so I won't talk about subjects and objects right now but if you want to know more about it, read the article here.
Now that we know the difference between I and me, let’s talk about compound pronouns.
Compound pronouns are exactly what I said in the beginning, it is when we have two pronouns “glued together” as one object or subject unit.
So if we look back at the sentence from earlier, “I robbed the guy”, the pronoun “I“ is alone, it is singular, but we can make it a compound pronoun very easily. Like this “My friend and I robbed the guy.” We can also say “the guy robbed my friend and me.”
Let’s see some common compound pronouns:
My friend and I, My friend and me, Him and me, he and I, her and me, she and me, you and I, you and me, and there are numerous other variations we can make.
There is one big rule about compound pronouns when we use them with “I” or “me.” This is that I and me always go after the other pronoun.
For example: we never say “me and Jake” or “me and him.” You can think of this as being polite, like when you hold the door for someone else to go first, haha. So we say “Jake and me” or “him and me”
So here’s the trick. It is super easy. But first let me say one more thing. The problem that you probably have with the compound pronouns is that when you have two pronouns together it sounds confusing and honestly, both choices sound like good options, even to native speakers.
For example,
“Me went to the park” sounds really bad, but if we say Dave and me went to the park, it actually doesnt sound so bad, but it is wrong. So now, here is the trick!
The trick
Once you are super comfortable with I and me, you can use this little trick I am about to show you.
The trick is to look at the sentence with “Jake and I” or “him and I” or whichever compound pronoun it is and remove the other person and see if the sentence is still correct.
Let’s see some examples…
He and I went to the park.
If we take “he” out of the sentence, the sentence is still correct.
Mike laughed at jake and I.
If we take Jake out of the sentence, “Mike laughed at I” it sounds really bad, right? So now it is super clear that we should use “me” here, not “I.” if it is not so obvious, we can see see it more easily since “jake and I” is in the object position, but the pronoun “I” is for the subject position. That is why.
My brother and me got some beers.
Remove “my brother” and try to say “me got some beers.” Does it sound good? Nope, so we should use I.
If you can't tell which is better still, just read this object and subject post and remember that:
Me is an object
I is a subject
You can also do this if you are not sure whether to use he or him and she and her.
He and she are subjects
Him and her are objects
So use the same trick to decide which sentence is right.
“She and I ate candy” OR “her and I ate candy”
Well, we can't say “her ate candy” so the correct choice is the first one, “she and I ate candy.”
“Him and I watched a movie” OR “he and I watched a movie”
We cant say “him watched a movie” because him is only an object pronoun, and we need a subject pronoun. So the first choice is not correct, the correct option is the second one, “he and I watched a movie.”
This grammar point is really useful and has pretty clear rules, which makes it easier than some of our other grammar.
Let's review what we just learned:
Me, and I are personal pronouns.
I is a subject
Me is an object
A compound pronoun is when we put two pronouns together, like “him and me” or “she and I.”
And in a compound pronoun, I or me always comes second, as if we are being polite and letting the other person go first. 🙂
Basically subjects come first in a sentence and objects come at the end or at least after the subject. Or you can remember that the subject does the action, and we like to say the object “receives” the action.
The thing that makes compound pronouns tricky is that when we have two pronouns together, all options sound good.
The trick is to eliminate the other pronoun so that you only have to focus on one of them. After this you can probably tell if it correct or not very easily, but if not, first identify if the pronoun is a subject or object, then decide if you are the correct pronoun.
Example:
Is this sentence correct?
She and me went shopping.
“She and me” is the subject because “she and me” are doing the action.
Eliminate the other pronoun: me went shopping
Me is not the correct personal pronoun to be in the subject position. So this sentence is wrong and we need to say “I went shopping” or “she and I went shopping.”
If you have any questions comment below or email me and I will help you.