This week's question is a very common question from learners of English. Should I say 'you and me' or 'you and I'?
In this programme Jo Hunter and Feifei Feng from BBC Learning English talk us through the rules. They explain all about personal pronouns.
I, you, he, she, we and they are all personal pronouns. When a personal pronoun is the subject of a sentence they don't change.
- I listen to the radio.
OR
- We play computer games.
The personal pronouns change when they become the object of the sentence.
- He wanted me to check his work.
NOT
- He wanted I to check his work.
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| You and I, or you and me? |
So if we're talking about two people - you and I - and they are the subject of the sentence - we would use you and I in English.
- You and I are meeting a colleague tonight.
- He and I are best friends.
However, if those two people become the object of the sentence then 'you and I' changes to 'you and me'.
- He is meeting you and me later.
- He is friends with us.
- He is friends with you and me.
One unfortunate thing you have to be very careful of though, is that native British speakers don't always follow that rule. They might say, "You and me are meeting a colleague tonight" or "Me and him are best friends".
Our advice is to follow the rules but just be aware that native speakers don't always do that!!
Thank you Highsfar for your question. If you have a question please get in touch. You can email us at questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk. We'll answer one question every week, so get sending those questions!
Glossary 詞匯
rules
規則
personal pronouns
人稱代詞
subject
主語
sentence
句子
object
賓語
unfortunate
不幸的
native British speakers
英語為母語的英國人
advice
建議，勸告
be aware
注意
