In linguistics, an object pronoun is a personal pronoun that is used typically as a grammatical object: the direct or indirect object of a verb, or the object of a preposition. Object pronouns contrast with subject pronouns. Object pronouns in English take the objective case, sometimes called the oblique case or object case. For example, the English object pronoun me is found in "They see me" (direct object), "He's giving me my book" (indirect object), and "Sit with me" (object of a preposition); this contrasts with the subject pronoun in "I see them," "I am getting my book," and "I am sitting here."
The English personal and interrogative pronouns have the following subject and object forms:
Subject pronoun |
Object pronoun |
---|---|
I | me |
he | him |
she | her |
it | |
we | us |
you | |
they | them |
who | (whom) |
what |
In some languages the direct object pronoun and the indirect object pronoun have separate forms. For example in Spanish, direct object: Lo mandaron a la escuela (They sent him to school) and indirect object: Le mandaron una carta (They sent him a letter). Other languages divide object pronouns into a larger variety of classes. On the other hand, many languages, for example Persian, do not have distinct object pronouns: Man Farsi baladam (I can speak Persian). Be man midanad. (He knows me).
Read more about Object Pronoun: History
Famous quotes containing the words object and/or pronoun:
“My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time
To let the punishment fit the crime
The punishment fit the crime;”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18361911)
“Would mankind be but contented without the continual use of that little but significant pronoun mine or my own, with what luxurious delight might they revel in the property of others!... But if envy makes me sicken at the sight of everything that is excellent out of my own possession, then will the sweetest food be sharp as vinegar, and every beauty will in my depraved eyes appear as deformity.”
—Sarah Fielding (17101768)