me

Pronunciation

• (UK, Canada) enPR: mē, IPA^(key): /miː/
• (US) enPR: mē, IPA^(key): /mi/
• (Northern England, Ottawa Valley) enPR: mĭ, IPA^(key): /mɪ/
• (some accents) enPR: mā, IPA^(key): /meɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː, -eɪ, -ɪ
• Homophones: Me, mee, may (some accents)

Pronoun

me (first-person singular pronoun, referring to the speaker)

1. The first-person singular, as the object (of a verb, preposition, etc).
   1. As the object (direct or indirect) of a verb.

      Can you hear me?

      He gave me this.

      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 86:17:

        Shew me a token foꝛ good, that they which hate me may ſee it, and bee aſhamed: becauſe thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comfoꝛted me.

   2. (archaic, proscribed) Myself; as a reflexive direct object of a verb.
      • 1819, John Keats, La Belle Dame sans Merci:

        And I awoke, and found me here.

   3. (colloquial, proscribed) 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.

   4. As the object of a preposition.

      Come with me.

2. (sometimes proscribed) As the complement of the copula (be).

   It wasn't me.

   • 2017, Theresa May, “Andrew Neil interviews Theresa May: full transcript”, in The Spectator‎, archived from the original on 22 May 2017:

     It's either me or Jeremy Corbyn.

3. Used for the pronoun in isolation or in apposition.

   Who's there? —Me.

   Who did this? —Me. I did it. (≈ It was me. I did it.)

4. (nonstandard or proscribed) I, the first-person singular, as the subject.
   1. (informal, with a conjunction, often proscribed) As the subject of a verb.

      Me and my friends played a game.

      [It was] literally all me and my astrophysicist colleagues could talk about.

      Stella and me have opted to take a course called 'Autobiography and Fiction'.

   2. (nonstandard, not with a conjunction) As the subject of a verb. Sometimes used to indicate or imitate limited English fluency.
      • 1844, Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, volume 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.

      • 1899 July 20, Mrs. A[lexander] J[effrey] McKelway [i.e., Lavinia Rutherford McKelway], “Children’s Department”, in A[lexander] J[effrey] McKelway, editor, Presbyterian Standard, volume XLI, number 28, Charlotte, N.C.: The Presbyterian Publishing Company, page 14, column 1:

        Well he said me mustn’t eat ’nanas cause ’nanas would make me sick.

      • 2005 October 10, Michael Chapman; Matthew Chapman, “Teen Girl Squad Issue #10”, in Homestar Runner‎, spoken by Strong Bad (Matthew Chapman):

        Whoa! That was about the coolest thing ever! Me gotta see that again.

   3. (nonstandard, in apposition) Would be the subject of a copula in standard English, though the copula is omitted; used to indicate or imitate limited English fluency.
      • 1932 June, Katherine Albert, “Hey! Hey! Here Comes Johnny”, in James R. Quirk, editor, Photoplay, volume XLII, number 1, Chicago, Ill.: Photoplay Publishing Company, page 119, column 2:

        “I should stick to Tarzan,” he [Johnny Weissmuller] explains. “You see, I’m no actor. Well, I didn’t have to act in ‘Tarzan, the Ape Man’—just said, ‘Me Tarzan, you Jane.’ I'll never be able to act.”

        The words do not occur in the film itself, nor in the original book by Burroughs. Instead, Tarzan says “Tarzan” and “Jane” repeatedly.

      • 1954 February 3, Mrs. John F. Underhill, “The Last Leaf; Chapter Three: Bear Tracks”, in Lawrence Maxwell, editor, Junior Guide, volume 2, number 5, Washington, D.C., page 7, column 2:

        May opened the door, and a huge Indian walked into the room. “Me Bear Tracks,” he said. “Me hungry.”

Usage notes

This section or entry lacks references or sources. Please help verify this information by adding appropriate citations. You can also discuss it at the Tea Room.

Me is traditionally described as the objective pronoun, meaning it is used as the object of verbs and prepositions, while the subjective pronoun I should be used as the subject of verbs. However, "objective" pronouns are widely used as the subject of verbs in colloquial speech when they are accompanied by a conjunction, for example, "me and her are friends". This usage is traditionally considered incorrect, and "she and I are friends" is the prescriptive construction.

Using me as the lone subject of a verb (without a conjunction, 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 some dialects 'me' is also used as a possessive, in writing, speakers of these dialects usually write my.

Some prescriptivists object to the use of me following the verb be, as in "It wasn't me". The phrase "It was not I" is prescribed as correct, though this may be seen as extreme and used for jocular effect.

Noun

me (plural mes)

1. The self or personality of the speaker, especially their authentic self.

   Synonym: I

   • 1871, George MacDonald, “[At the Back of the North Wind] Out in the Storm”, in Harry Thurston Peck, Frank R[ichard] Stockton, Julian Hawthorne, editors, Masterpieces of the World’s Literature, Ancient and Modern: The Great Authors of the World with Their Master Productions, volume XIV, New York, N.Y.: American Literary Society, published 1899, pages 7514–7515:

     “Quite easily. Here you are taking care of a poor little boy with one arm, and there you are sinking a ship with the other. It can’t be like you.” “Ah, but which is me? I can’t be two mes, you know.” “No. Nobody can be two mes.” “Well, which me is me?” “Now I must think. There looks to be two.” “Yes. That’s the very point—You can’t be knowing the thing you don’t know, can you?” “No.” “Which me do you know?” “The kindest, goodest, best me in the world,” answered Diamond, clinging to North Wind. […] “Do you know the other me as well?” “No. I can’t. I shouldn’t like to.” “There it is. You don’t know the other me. You are sure of one of them?” “Yes.” “And you are sure there can’t be two mes?” “Yes.” “Then the me you don’t know must be the same as the me you do know—else there would be two mes?” “Yes.” “Then the other me you don’t know must be as kind as the me you do know?”

   • 1948 January, Rog Phillips [pseudonym; Roger Phillip Graham], “Hate”, in Amazing Stories, volume 22, number 1, Chicago, Ill.: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, page 69, column 2:

     The question seems unanswerable, because if those same atoms were to be collected as they leave my body as waste in the normal process of metabolism, and in a year when my body contained all new atoms, those old atoms which were me a year ago were reformed into an exact replica of me down to the last thought and cell, would there be two mes?

   • 1990, Bei Dao [pseudonym; Zhao Zhenkai], translated by Bonnie S. McDougall and Susette Ternent Cooke, Waves, New York, N.Y.: New Directions Publishing, →ISBN, page 158:

     “In these last few days I keep feeling that I’m changing, changing into something I don’t quite recognize myself.” / “You’ve become more like yourself.” / “Could there be two mes?” / “Perhaps more than two.” / “It gets worse and worse. So which me do you actually love ?” / “All of them.” / “You’re being slippery.” Her lips curled slyly. “In fact you only love the me in your mind’s eye, and that me doesn’t exist, right?” / “No, that’s the combination of all the yous.” / She laughed. “It’s just as complicated as a mathematical calculation, if you end up with the three-headed, six-armed me, could you stand that?”

Determiner

me

1. (UK regional, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) Alternative form of my
   • a. 1918, Wilfred Owen, “The Letter”, in 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!)

   • 1994, John Hodge, Shallow Grave, spoken by Alex Law (Ewan McGregor):

     I want me money back!

   • 1995, Nick Park, A Close Shave:

     Get off me cheese! Get off! Get off!

   • 2016, Alan Moore, Jerusalem, Liveright, page 99:

     "What have I ever done to prove me worth, or where I could at least say as I'd made a difference?"

Noun

me

1. (music) The solfeggio syllable used to indicate the flat of the third note of a major scale.

Preposition

me (+ accusative)

1. with (accompanied by)

   Shkoj me tim vëlla.

   I'm going with my brother.

2. with (possessing)

   E sheh djalin me sytë e kaltër?

   Do you see the guy with blue eyes?

3. with (by means of)

   Preferoj të shkruaj me penë.

   I prefer to write with a pen.

Adjective

me (feminine mee)

1. insufficient, scanty, not full

Usage notes

• Takes the form m' before verbs beginning with vowel sounds.

See also

Synonyms

• jetja

Pronunciation

• (Central) IPA^(key): /mə/
• (Valencia) IPA^(key): /me/

Pronoun

me (enclitic, contracted 'm, proclitic em, contracted proclitic m')

1. me (direct or indirect object)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈmɛ]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈmə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈme]

Noun

me f (uncountable)

1. (colloquial, childish, euphemistic) poo

Declension

Synonyms

• mij

Declension

See also

Usage notes

• Takes the form -mi when suffixed to an impersonal verb form.

See also

Usage notes

• When the verb shows both the person and the number, the pronoun may be left out in written Finnish and is usually only used for emphasis. However, the inflected forms are often used. In colloquial Finnish, the pronoun is almost always used, even with a verb. (compare the usage of minä (“I”)).
• See this appendix for information on the dialectal variants of me.

Inflection

• Irregular (inflectional stem mei-, as if in the plural). 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.

Synonyms

• met (dialectal)
• myö (dialectal)

Derived terms

Descendants

• Kven: met

See also

Related terms

Pronoun

me (first-person singular)

1. I, me

   Me es tre felica.

   I am very happy.

   Ka vu parolas a me?

   Are you talking to me?

See also

More information singular, plural ...

Personal pronouns in Ido

		singular			plural
		nominative	possessive		nominative	possessive
			singular	plural		singular	plural
first person		me	mea	mei	ni	nia	nii
second person	formal	vu	vua	vui	vi	via	vii
	familiar	tu	tua	tui
third person	masculine	ilu, il	ilua	ilui	ili	ilia	ilii
	feminine	elu, el	elua	elui	eli	elia	elii
	neuter	olu, ol	olua	olui	oli	olia	olii
	common	lu	lua	lui	li	lia	lii
	reflexive	su	sua	sui	su	sua	sui
indefinite		onu, on	onua	onui	onu, on	onua	onui

Close

• The possessive plurals are seldom used.
• The shortened forms are preferred.
• The pangendered forms are preferred to the gendered or neuter forms in most scenarios.

Noun

me (plural me-i)

1. The name of the Latin script letter M/m.

Usage notes

• Used when followed by a third-person direct object clitic (lo, la, li, le, or ne).

See also