me
See also Appendix:Variations of "me"
English
Etymology
From Middle English me, from Old English mē (“me”, originally dative, but later also accusative), from Proto-Germanic *miz (“me”), from Proto-Indo-European *(e)me-, *(e)me-n- (“me”). Cognate with Scots me (“me”), North Frisian me (“me”), Dutch me, mij (“me”), German mir (“me”, dative), Icelandic mér (“me”, dative), Latin mē (“me”), Ancient Greek μέ (me), ἐμέ (emé, “me”), Sanskrit (mā), (mām, “me”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) enPR: mē, IPA: /miː/, X-SAMPA: /mi:/
- (US) enPR: mē, IPA: /mi/, X-SAMPA: /mi/
-
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -iː
Pronoun
me first-person singular pronoun, referring to the speaker
- As the direct object of a verb.
- Can you hear me?
- (obsolete) Myself; as a reflexive direct object of a verb.
- 1819, John Keats, La Belle Dame sans Merci,
- And I awoke, and found me here.
- 1819, John Keats, La Belle Dame sans Merci,
- As the object of a preposition.
- Come with me.
- As the indirect object of a verb.
- He gave me this.
- (US, colloquial) Myself; as a reflexive indirect object of a verb; the ethical dative.
- 1993 April, Harper’s Magazine,
- When I get to college, I’m gonna get me a white Nissan Sentra.
- 1993 April, Harper’s Magazine,
- (colloquial) As the complement of the copula (“be” or “is”).
- It wasn't me.
- (Australia, UK, New Zealand) My; preceding a noun, marking ownership.
- a. 1918, Wilfred Owen, The Letter, in 1994, Douglas Kerr (editor), The Works of Wilfred Owen, page 54,
- There don′t seem much to say just now. / (Yer what? Then don′t, yer ruddy cow! / And give us back me cigarette!)
- a. 1918, Wilfred Owen, The Letter, in 1994, Douglas Kerr (editor), The Works of Wilfred Owen, page 54,
- (colloquial, with "and") As the subject of a verb.
- Me and my friends played a game.
- (nonstandard, not with "and") As the subject of a verb.
- 1844, Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, Vol. II,
- One of them, whose sobriquet was Big-headed Blackboy, was stretched out before the fire, and no answer could be obtained from him, but a drawling repetition, in grunts of displeasure, of “Bel (not) me want to go.”
- 2005, Michael Chapman & Matthew Chapman, Teen Girl Squad Issue 10 (cartoon), part of Homestar Runner
- Strong Bad: Me gotta see that again.
- 1844, Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, Vol. II,
Usage notes
Me is traditionally described as the accusative pronoun, meaning it should be used as the object of verbs and prepositions, while the nominative pronoun I should be used as the subject of verbs. However, “accusative” pronouns are widely used as the subject of verbs in colloquial speech if they are accompanied by and, for example, "me and her are friends". This usage is traditionally considered incorrect, and "she and I are friends" would be the preferred construction.
Using me as the lone subject (without and) of a verb (e.g. "me want", "me like") is a feature of various types of both pidgin English and that of infant English-learners, and is sometimes used by speakers of standard English for jocular effect (e.g. "me likee", "me wantee").
Although in the spoken version of some dialects 'me' is commonly used as a possessive, in writing, speakers of these dialects usually use my.
Some prescriptivists object to the use of me following the verb to be, as in “It wasn’t me”. The phrase “It was not I” is considered to be correct, though this may be seen as extreme and used for jocular effect.
Synonyms
- (subject of a verb): I; my ass (vulgar or slang)
- (reflexive object): myself
- (complement of the copula): I
- (indirect object): us (Australia, UK)
- (marking ownership): my; mine (archaic)
Translations
direct object of a verb
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obsolete reflexive
object of a preposition
|
|
indirect object of a verb
|
|
reflexive indirect object of a verb
complement of the copula
marking ownership
subject of a verb with “and”
subject of a verb without “and”
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also
English personal pronouns
| Number | Person | Gender | Subject | Objective | Reflexive | Possessive adjective | Possessive pronoun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | First | — | I | me | myself | my | mine |
| Second | — | you, thou (archaic) |
you, thee (archaic) |
yourself, thyself (archaic) theeself (archaic) |
your, thy (archaic) |
yours, thine (archaic) |
|
| Third | Masculine | he | him | himself | his | ||
| Feminine | she | her | herself | her | hers | ||
| Neuter | it | itself | its | its (rare) | |||
| Gender-neutral | they | them | themself | their | theirs | ||
| Plural | First | — | we | us | ourselves | our | ours |
| Second | — | you, ye (archaic) |
you | yourselves | your | yours | |
| Third | — | they | them | themselves | their | theirs | |
| Indefinite | Third | — | one | oneself | one's | — | |
References
- A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, ISBN 1904794165
- Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin, [1]
Statistics
Anagrams
Albanian
Etymology 1
From Proto-Albanian *me(t). Cognate to Ancient Greek μετά (“after, beyond;in the middle, between”), Gothic miþ (“with”), Old Norse með.
Pronunciation
- IPA: [mɛ]
Preposition
me (+accusative)
- with (accompanied by)
- Shkoj me tim vëlla.
- I'm going with my brother.
- Shkoj me tim vëlla.
- with (possessing)
- E sheh djalin me sy të kaltër?
- Do you see the guy with blue eyes?
- E sheh djalin me sy të kaltër?
- with (by means of)
- Preferoj të shkruaj më penë.
- I prefer to write with a pen.
- Preferoj të shkruaj më penë.
Etymology 2
Compare Ancient Greek (Hom.) μανός (“thin”), Armenian manr (“small, thin”).
Adjective
me m (feminine mee)
Asturian
Pronoun
me
- me (first-person plural direct pronoun)
- me (first-person plural indirect pronoun)
Catalan
Pronoun
me (enclitic, contracted 'm, proclitic em, contracted proclitic m')
- me (direct or indirect object)
Declension
Catalan personal pronouns and clitics
Dutch
Pronunciation
Pronoun
me (personal)
Declension
| subject | object | possessive | reflexive | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | full | unstr. | full | unstr. | full | unstr. | pred. | |
| 1st person | ik | 'k1 | mij | me | mijn | m'n1 | mijne | me |
| 2nd person | jij | je | jou | je | jouw | je | jouwe | je |
| 2nd person dialectal | gij | ge | u | – | uw | – | uwe | u |
| 2nd person formal | u | – | u | – | uw | – | uwe | zich |
| 3rd person masculine | hij | ie1 | hem | 'm1 | zijn | z'n1 | zijne | zich |
| 3rd person feminine | zij | ze | haar | 'r1, d'r1 | haar | 'r1, d'r1 | hare | zich |
| 3rd person neuter | het | 't1 | het | 't1 | zijn | z'n1 | zijne | zich |
| plural | ||||||||
| 1st person | wij | we | ons | – | ons, onze2 | – | onze | ons |
| 2nd person | jullie | je | jullie | je | jullie | je | – | je |
| 2nd person dialectal | gij | ge | u | – | uw | – | uwe | u |
| 2nd person formal | u | – | u | – | uw | – | uwe | zich |
| 3rd person | zij | ze | hen3, hun4 | ze | hun | – | hunne | zich |
| 1) Not as common in written language. 2) Inflected as an adjective. |
3) In prescriptivist use, used only as direct object (accusative). 4) In prescriptivist use, used only as indirect object (dative). |
|||||||
Estonian
Etymology
Short form of meie.
Pronoun
me (genitive me, partitive meid)
Declension
- This Estonian pronoun needs an inflection-table template.
Finnish
Etymology
From the same Proto-Uralic *me as the Hungarian personal pronoun mi.
Pronunciation
Pronoun
me (personal, plural, stem mei-)
Inflection
- Irregular. The comitative and instructive forms don't exist; the abessive is hardly used.
- In addition to the standard set of cases, me and the other personal pronouns have a specific accusative form, meidät.
|
Declension of me
|
Usage notes
- Although usually omitted in written language (the verb shows both the person and the number), the pronoun is in spoken language practically always used. (cf. the usage of minä (“I”))
Synonyms
See also
French
Etymology
From Latin mē, from Proto-Indo-European *(e)me-, *(e)me-n- (“me”).
Pronunciation
Pronoun
me (personal, objective case)
Related terms
French personal pronouns
| Number | Person | Gender | Nominative (subject) |
Reflexive | Accusative (direct complement) |
Dative (indirect complement) |
Locative (at) |
Genitive (of) |
Disjunctive (tonic) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | First | — | je, j’ | me, m’ | — | — | moi | ||
| Second | — | tu, t’ | te, t’ | — | — | toi | |||
| Third | Masculine | il | se, s’ | le, l’ | lui | y | en | lui | |
| Feminine | elle | la, l’ | elle | ||||||
| — | on | — | — | — | — | soi | |||
| Plural | First | — | nous | nous | — | — | nous | ||
| Second | — | vous | vous | — | — | vous | |||
| Third | Masculine | ils | se, s’ | les | leur | y | en | eux | |
| Feminine | elles | elles | |||||||
Galician
Etymology
From Latin mihi, dative singular form of ego, and from mē, accusative singular form of ego.
Pronoun
me accusative and dative (nominative eu, oblique min)
- (to) me (dative singular first-person personal pronoun)
- me (accusative singular first-person personal pronoun)
- myself (reflexive singular first-person personal pronoun)
See also
Icelandic
↑Jump back a sectionItalian
↑Jump back a sectionKurdish
Pronoun
me
- we (the speaker/writer and at least one other person)
This Kurdish entry was created from the translations listed at we. It may be less reliable than other entries, and may be missing parts of speech or additional senses. Please also see me in the Kurdish Wiktionary. This notice will be removed when the entry is checked. (more information) April 2008
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Indo-European *(e)me-, *(e)me-n- (“me”). Cognate with Ancient Greek με (me), εμέ (emé, “me”), Sanskrit (mā), (mām, “me”).
Pronunciation
Pronoun
mē (personal pronoun)
Derived terms
Descendants
Lojban
Cmavo
- Converts a sumti to a selbri; x1 is specific to the following sumti in aspect x2.
- ti me la meris.
- This is-Mary (or is-related-to-Mary).
- ta me li ny. me'u moi le'i mi ratcu
- That is-the-n-th of-the-set-of my rats.
- That is my n-th rat.
- ti me la meris.
Usage notes
Mandarin
Romanization
Usage notes
English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
Probably from Old Norse mit (“us two”).
Pronunciation
Pronoun
me
- we
- Kva skal me gjera?
- What shall we do?
- Kva skal me gjera?
Synonyms
References
- “me” in The Nynorsk Dictionary – Dokumentasjonsprosjektet.
See also
Personal pronouns in Nynorsk
| Nominative | Objective case | Genitive/Possessive pronoun | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | |||
| First person | eg | meg | min m |
| Second person | du | deg | din m |
| Third person m | han | han, honom3 | hans |
| Third person f | ho | ho, henne | hennar, hennes4 |
| Third person n | det, dat1 | det, dat1 | dess 2 |
| Plural | |||
| First person | me, vi | oss | vår m |
| Second person | de, dokker | dykk, dokker | dykkar, dokkar, deires4 |
| Third person | dei | dei, deim3 | deira |
| Notes | |||
| 1Never part of official Nynorsk/Landsmål. Primarily used before Landsmål received an official written norm. | |||
| 2Rare or literary | |||
| 3No longer part of the official written norm. Now primarily used in Høgnorsk texts. | |||
| 4No longer part of the official written norm. These non-traditional forms were added to the norm to either approach the the Samnorsk ideal or certain dialects. | |||
Old English
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *miz, dative of *ek, from Proto-Indo-European *me. Cognate with Old Frisian mi, Old Saxon mī, Dutch mij, Old High German mih (German mich), Old Norse mik, Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌺. The Indo-European root is also the source of Latin me, Greek με, Old Irish mé (Irish mí, Welsh mi), Proto-Slavic *me- (Old Church Slavonic мене, Russian меня), Lithuanian mi, Albanian mua.
Pronunciation
- IPA: /meː/
Pronoun
mē (personal pronoun)
Old French
Pronoun
me
- myself (first-person singular reflexive pronoun)
- me (first-person singular direct object pronoun)
- to me (first-person singular indirect object pronoun)
Portuguese
Etymology
From Old Portuguese me, from Latin mē, from Proto-Indo-European *me-.
Pronunciation
- IPA: [mi], [me]
- Hyphenation: me
Pronoun
me (personal pronoun)
- me, myself
- 2005, Lya Wyler (translator), J. K. Rowling (English author), Harry Potter e o Enigma do Príncipe (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), Rocco, page 228:
- Você está me chamando de maluco?
- Are you calling me crazy?
- Você está me chamando de maluco?
- 2005, Lya Wyler (translator), J. K. Rowling (English author), Harry Potter e o Enigma do Príncipe (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), Rocco, page 228:
See also
| Portuguese personal pronouns (edit) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Person | Nominative (subject) |
Objective (direct object) |
Objective (indirect object) |
Reflexive | Prepositional | Prepositional with com |
Non-declining | |||||
| m | f | m | f | m and f | m and f | m | f | m | f | m | f | ||
| Singular | First | eu | me | mim | comigo | ||||||||
| Second | tu | te | ti | contigo | você | ||||||||
| o senhor | a senhora | ||||||||||||
| Third | ele | ela | o (lo, no) |
a (la, na) |
lhe | se | ele | ela | com ele | com ela | |||
| si (reflexive) | consigo (reflexive) | ||||||||||||
| Plural | First | nós | nos | nós | conosco | a gente | |||||||
| Second | vós | vos | vós | convosco | vocês | ||||||||
| os senhores | as senhoras | ||||||||||||
| Third | eles | elas | os (los, nos) |
as (las, nas) |
lhes | se | eles | elas | com eles | com elas | |||
| si (reflexive) | consigo (reflexive) | ||||||||||||
| Impersonal | se | si | consigo | ||||||||||
Scottish Gaelic
↑Jump back a sectionSlovene
Etymology
Pronunciation
Pronoun
mé
- we (feminine and neuter plural, more than two)
Declension
Declension of me (irregular, suppletive)
| singular | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | 2nd person | reflexive | |
| nominative | jàz | tí | — |
| accusative | méne, me | tébe, te | sébe, se |
| genitive | méne, me | tébe, te | sébe, se |
| dative | méni, mi | tébi, ti | sébi, si |
| locative | méni | tébi | sébi |
| instrumental | menój, máno | tebój, tábo | sebój, sábo |
| dual | |||
| 1st person | 2nd person | reflexive | |
| nominative | mídva m, médve/mídve f and n | vídva m, védve/vídve f and n | — |
| accusative | náju | váju | sébe, se |
| genitive | náju | váju | sébe, se |
| dative | náma | váma | sébi, si |
| locative | náju | váju | sébi |
| instrumental | náma | váma | sebój, sábo |
| plural | |||
| 1st person | 2nd person | reflexive | |
| nominative | mí m, mé f and n | ví m, vé f and n | — |
| accusative | nàs | vàs | sébe, se |
| genitive | nàs | vàs | sébe, se |
| dative | nàm | vàm | sébi, si |
| locative | nàs | vàs | sébi |
| instrumental | nàmi | vàmi | sebój, sábo |
See also
Slovene personal pronouns
Turkish
Noun 1
me
Noun 2
me
- The name of the Latin script letter M/m.
See also
- (Latin script letter names) harf; a, be, ce, çe, de, e, fe, ge, yumuşak ge, he, ı, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, ö, pe, re, se, şe, te, u, ü, ve, ye, ze (Category: tr:Latin letter names)
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