Subject and object pronouns | The parts of speech | Grammar | Khan Academy

- [Voiceover] All right,
so grammarians, I want to

talk to you about the difference between

subject and object pronouns, but before

we do that, let's start off with a little

primer on what subjects
and objects actually are,

Just generally for our
grammatical purposes.

In grammar, the subject is
the part of the sentence

or clause that does a thing.

The subject does a thing.

The object, on the other hand, is the

thing that is acted on,
has stuff done to it,

so the object has stuff done to it.

The subject acts, the
object is acted upon,

let's give an example.

In the sentence, Reina wrote an e-mail,

the subject of the sentence,
the doer of the thing

is Reina, right, as the subject.

The thing she is doing
is writing an e-mail,

so Reina wrote an e-mail.

E-mail is the object of the verb wrote.

It is the object of the sentence.

Now, there are cases when a sentence

doesn't have an object.

For example, we could just say

Reina wrote.

It doesn't have an object, it's just

Reina's the subject, and
then there is no object.

This is what we call intransitive usage,

but you don't need to write
that down or anything.

Now, understanding the relationship

between e-mail and Reina enables you

to understand how subject
and object pronouns are used.

When we're subbing out
these nouns for pronouns,

we can figure out which
ones we have to use,

because pronouns have different forms

depending on whether or not
they are subjects or objects.

Reina is a girl's name, and if
we know that Reina is a girl,

we can refer to her as either she or her.

These are two of the feminine pronouns.

One of these is a subject,
and one of them is an object.

She is the subject form,
and her is the object form.

If we wanted to rewrite this sentence,

speaking of Reina, we would say,

she wrote an e-mail.

Not, her wrote an e-mail, you see.

Because her is the object pronoun,

and therefore is the thing that,

the object pronoun has stuff done to it,

as opposed to the doer of things.

She is the subject form, it's the doer.

For e-mail it's easy, this
just becomes it in all cases.

The subject form, and the
object form are the same.

Let's do a couple more examples

just to shore this up
so you see what I mean.

I give her a present.

Right now, I is the
subject, her is the object.

Subject, object, but
what if we switched it?

What would it look like then?

Well it wouldn't be her give I a present,

because since we're switching
the subject and the object,

we're gonna be switching the
pronouns that we use too,

so it would be, she gave me a present.

Now, she is the

subject form of her,

and me is the subject, is
the object form, excuse me,

me is the object form of I.

Get a little period in there.

Same thing with they and he.

They showed

him a guitar.

Why not?

They is the subject,
and him is the object.

Let's give it the old switcheroo.

He showed

them a guitar.

Now, we do the switcheroo, him becomes he,

so we go from the object form which is him

to the subject from which is he,

and then they, the
subject form becomes them,

the object form.

Now when it comes to you and it,

you're in luck, because
the subject and object

forms of these are the same, so subject

equals object,

with you and it.

I could say you give it a present

just as easily as I could
say it gives you a present.

I didn't realize I changed
this to the past tense.

She gives me a present.

There we go, that's better.

That's the difference between a subject

and an object pronoun.

You can learn anything.

David out.