Object Pronouns

What are object pronouns?

An object pronoun, also called objective pronoun, functions as the object of a verb or preposition, as distinguished from a subject or subjective pronoun, which is the subject of a verb.

Examples:

• He begged her to live with him. (her is the object of the verb begged and him is the object of the preposition with)

• She told them the truth. (them is the object of the verb told)

Object pronouns are used instead of object nouns, usually because we already know what the object is.

• She's my friend. I really enjoy being with her.

• I like this film. I saw it last week.

Object Pronouns

Object pronouns in English are the following:

me, you, him, her, it, us, them

Object pronouns come after either a verb (e.g "like") or a preposition (e.g "to").

Examples:

• I like you but you don't like me.

• Do you really hate her?

• She loves sitting next to him.

• She always writes e-mails to us.

• He's talking to her about it.

Object pronouns differ from:

• Subject pronouns,

• possessive adjectives,

• possessive pronouns,

• and reflexive pronouns.

Review:

Subject pronouns	Possessive adjectives	Possessive pronouns	Reflexive pronouns	Object pronouns
I	my	mine	myself	me
you	your	yours	yourself	you
he	his	his	himself	him
she	her	hers	herself	her
it	its	its	itself	it
we	our	ours	ourselves	us
you	your	yours	yourselves	you
they	their	theirs	themselves	them

Reflexive Pronouns

Every morning...

I look at myself in the mirror.

What are reflexive pronouns?

Reflexive pronouns are used when the complement of the verb is the same as the subject.

Example:

He hurt himself.

Reflexive pronouns can also be used to give more emphasis to the subject or object.

Example:

I wrote it myself. (I want to emphasize the fact that I wrote it.)

I spoke to the president himself. (I spoke to the president personally NOT somebody else.)

Reflexive pronouns

Subject Pronouns	I	you	he	she	it	we	you	they
Reflexive Pronouns	myself	yourself	himself	herself	itself	ourselves	yourselves	themselves

The words " myself, yourself, himself..." are reflexive pronouns. Reflexive pronouns are words that show that the person who does the action is also the person who is affected by it:

Examples:

"I always do my homework myself. Nobody helps me."

"He never does his homework himself. The teacher always helps him."

You may also be interested in:

• subject pronouns,

• object pronouns

• possessive pronouns,

• and possessive adjectives.

Review:

Personal pronouns	Possessive adjectives	Possessive pronouns	Reflexive pronouns	Object pronouns
I	my	mine	myself	me
you	your	yours	yourself	you
he	his	his	himself	him
she	her	hers	herself	her
it	its	its	itself	it
we	our	ours	ourselves	us
you	your	yours	yourselves	you
they	their	theirs	themselves	them