Subject pronouns are often (but not always) found at the beginning of a sentence. They are I, he, she, it, we, they and you. More precisely, the subject of a sentence is the person or thing that lives out the verb.
- I owe that person $3,000. – I am living out that debt. I is the subject pronoun.
- He and I had a fight. – This sentence has two subjects because he and I were both involved in the fight.
- He broke my kneecaps. – You get the idea.
- To him, I must now pay my children's college funds. – If you'll notice, the verb in this sentence – the action – is "pay." Although I is not at the beginning of the sentence, it is the person living out the action and is, therefore, the subject.
Object Pronouns
By contrast, objects and object pronouns indicate the recipient of an action or motion. They are me, him, her, it, us, them and you They come after verbs and prepositions (to, with, for, at, on, beside, under, around, etc.).
- The guy I borrowed money from showed me a crowbar and told me to pay him immediately.
- I begged him for more time.
- He said he'd given me enough time already.
- I tried to dodge the crowbar, but he hit me with it anyway.
- Just then, the police arrived and arrested us.
Subject vs. Object Pronouns
There is often confusion over which pronouns you should use when you are one half of a dual subject or object. For example, should you say:
- "Me and him had a fight." or "He and I had a fight?"
- "The police arrested me and him." or "The police arrested he and I?"
Some people will tell you that you should always put the other person first and refer to yourself as "I" because it's more proper, but those people are wrong. You can put the other person first out of politeness, but you should always use the correct pronouns (subject or object) for the sentence.
A good test to decide which one you need is to try the sentence with one pronoun at a time. Would you say, "Me had a fight?" Of course not. You'd say, "I had a fight." What about, "Him had a fight?" No, you'd say, "He had a fight." So when you put the two subjects together, you get, "He and I had a fight." The same rule applies to the other example.
- You wouldn't say, "The police arrested he," or, "The police arrested I."
- You would use "him" and "me."
So the correct sentence is, "The police arrested him and me."