He vs. Him

he him object pronouns subject pronouns

Which one is grammatically correct? 'I invited his parents, his girlfriend and he?' or 'I invited his parents, his girlfriend and him?' Let's find out!

What Are Their Main Differences?

The key to knowing when to use 'he' and when to use 'him' is to know what is a subject pronoun and what is an object pronoun.

Subject Pronoun: 'He'

'He' as the subject of a verb can refer to:

Male Person

'He' is the third-person singular subject pronoun. As the name suggests, subject pronouns represent a male person already mentioned or easily identified that does the action of the verb.

That's my father over there—he's a teacher.

As in this example, 'he' replaced the masculine subject of the sentence. Rather than saying 'That's my father over there—my father's a teacher', you can just say 'he' to avoid repetition.

Male Animal

'He' can also refer to a male animal. Sometimes, English speakers refer to their male pets as 'he' when they want to anthropomorphize them and show that there is an emotional bond between them.

Meet my dog, Skippy. He's such a good boy!

A Person with Unidentified Gender

Another usage of the subject pronoun 'he' is when we want to refer to a person, male or female, but we do not want to express what sex they are or their sex is unknown to us.
Nowadays, this usage of 'he' is considered unacceptable. And most writers prefer to use 'they' to be gender-neutral.

Every kid must feel he is loved by his parents.

Don't worry. He cannot run from the cops forever.

when the police don't know if the person is a male or female, they use 'he' as a generic term.

Human beings in General

'He' can also be used to refer to any human beings in general. However, in modern English, some consider this incorrect and prefer to use the singular 'they'.

He who hesitates is lost.

God

In some religious contexts, 'He' with the capital letter 'H' refers to God.

He is the Almighty God.

Object Pronoun

'Him' is the third-person masculine object pronoun. It can be used as:

Direct and Indirect Object

An object pronoun receives the action of the verb and represents the person or animal that is affected by the subject either directly or indirectly.

I love my son. In fact, I adore him.

Object of Preposition

'Him' is also used after a preposition. Look at this example:

I can't do that favor for him.

Predicative after the Verb Be

'Him' also is used after the verb 'be' to refer to a male person or animal already mentioned.

Hey, look! It's him.

'Who's at the door?' 'It's him again!'

Note!

Technically, after the verb 'be', we must use a subject pronoun. It was considered grammatically correct. But idiomatically and in spoken language, no one says 'Who's at the door?' 'It's he again!'

God

'Him' with a capital letter, can refer to 'God' in some religious contexts.

I believe in Him.

Multiple-word Subject or Object: Him or He?

Now, how do we choose between 'he' and 'him' when we have a multiple-word subject or object? It so happens that a subject or object is more than one person. They are usually combined with the word 'and'.

He and I are best friends.

Here, 'he and I' are in the position of subject. It can be replaced by the pronoun 'we.'

Don't meddle. It's between him and me.

Here, 'he and me' are in the position of object. It can be replaced by the pronoun 'us.'

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