Pronouns and possessives: I / me / my / mine

In English, a pronoun changes its form depending on its job in the sentence: the subject, the object, or the owner.

💡Memory trick: most forms in the last column are just column 3 + -s: your → yours, her → hers, our → ours, their → theirs. The exceptions are my → mine, and his, which stays the same.

Subject pronouns (I, he, she, we, they) come before the verb — they do the action. Object pronouns (me, him, her, us, them) come after the verb or after a preposition (for, with, to, at, about…).

• She loves him, but he doesn't love her.

• Can you help me with this box?

• This present is for you.

• We're going to the beach. Why don't you come with us?

• Who's there? — It's me.

  everyday English uses me here, not It's I

When two people are joined with and, the same rule applies: I as a subject, me as an object.

• Nam and I play badminton on Sundays.

  subject → I

• Mum bought ice cream for my brother and me.

  after the preposition for → me

💡Not sure about I or me? Remove the other person and test it: “Mum bought ice cream for me” ✓ — nobody says “for I”, so “for my brother and me” is right. In casual speech, many native speakers say “Me and Nam played…”, but in writing and formal speech use Nam and I.

my, your, his, her, its, our, their always come before a noun. mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs stand alone and replace the whole “my + noun”.

• This is my phone. = This phone is mine.

• Is this your umbrella or hers?

• Our garden is small, but theirs is huge.

• The cat is licking its paw.

• his / her depends on the owner, not the thing: Lan and her brother (Lan is a woman → her), Minh and his sister (Minh is a man → his).
• Possessive pronouns have no apostrophe: yours, hers, ours, theirs (not your's, her's).
• its = belonging to it; it's = it is / it has. The dog wagged its tail. / It's raining.
• Don't put the or a before my/mine: my book (not the my book).

With names and nouns for people, add 's to show who owns something. With plural nouns that already end in -s, add only an apostrophe ( ' ). To ask who owns something, use Whose…? (don't confuse it with Who's = who is).

• This is Lan's room.

• My parents' house is in Hue.

  plural already ends in -s → just add '

• Whose umbrella is this? — It's Minh's.

• Who's that man next to your dad?

  Who's = Who is

For when to use 's and when to use of (the name of the song), see the lesson “-'s or of”.

a / an + noun + of mine / yours / hers / Lan's… means “one of my / your… (friends, cousins…)”. You can't say “a my friend” or “a friend of me”.

• Tuan is an old friend of mine.

• I met a cousin of yours at the wedding.

my own, your own, his own… means it belongs only to that person — not shared or borrowed. own always comes after a possessive word.

• I finally have my own room.

• She wants to start her own business.

• Bring your own water bottle.

💡Many languages put the owner after the noun (“the friend of me”). English puts it first: my friend. If you want to say “one of my friends”, use a friend of mine.

• ✗Can you help I?

  ✓Can you help me?

  After a verb, use an object pronoun.

• ✗This is mine book.

  ✓This is my book.

  There's a noun after it → my.

• ✗That bag is my.

  ✓That bag is mine.

  No noun after it → mine.

• ✗Lan lives with his parents.

  ✓Lan lives with her parents.

  Lan is a woman → her (it follows the owner).

• ✗Hoa is a friend of me.

  ✓Hoa is a friend of mine.

  The pattern is a friend of mine.

• ✗The dog is wagging it's tail.

  ✓The dog is wagging its tail.

  it's = it is; the possessive is its.