Object Pronouns

An object pronoun is the form you use when the pronoun receives the action, or when it follows a preposition — English me, you, him, her, it, us, them. Norwegian has a clean set of these, and for once English speakers have a reliable advantage: the system maps almost perfectly onto English, including the they → them shift. The two things to actually learn are the ham/han choice for "him" and the gender split between den and det for "it".

The full set

Note the spelling of the first three: meg, deg, seg all end in -eg (pronounced "mei", "dei", "sei" — the g sounds like a y). They are never spelled mei/dei. Note too that den, det and dere don't change at all between subject and object — only the others shift.

When do you use the object form?

Two situations, exactly as in English:

1. As the object of a verb — the thing the verb acts on:

2. After a preposition — til, med, for, på, mellom, etc.:

The preposition rule is where English speakers most often slip (the "between you and I" instinct), so it is worth saying flatly: after any preposition, use the object form — til meg, med deg, for oss, mellom dem. There are no exceptions.

de → dem: your free English analogy

Here Norwegian gives English speakers a gift. The pair de (subject, "they") and dem (object, "them") behaves exactly like English they / them. Wherever you'd say "they" in English, use de; wherever you'd say "them", use dem. No new logic to learn — just transfer your English instinct.

Because the analogy is so clean, the only real danger is forgetting to make the switch at all and leaving de in object position — see Common Mistakes.

ham or han for "him"?

This is the one genuinely live question in the system. Traditionally, "him" has a dedicated object form ham, distinct from the subject han ("he"):

But Norwegian is changing in real time. In everyday modern Bokmål — especially in speech, texting and casual writing — many Norwegians now use han for both "he" and "him", letting the subject form do double duty:

Both are correct in contemporary Bokmål. The practical guidance:

• ham is the safe, traditional, fully neutral choice — never wrong, and expected in careful or formal writing (formal).
• han as an object is increasingly standard in speech and informal writing (informal), and entirely acceptable to most younger Norwegians.

This is unusual: in most of the pronoun table the subject and object forms are firmly distinct (jeg/meg, de/dem). "Him" is the one slot where the distinction is eroding.

den and det for "it"

The two words for "it" are identical as subject and object — what changes is the gender of the noun being replaced, not the case. Common-gender nouns (en/ei) → den; neuter nouns (et) → det.

So even as a plain direct object, "it" forces you to recall the noun's gender. This trips up English speakers who reach for one default — there isn't one.

Object vs reflexive: a quick boundary

The object pronoun seg would belong in this table for third person, but it is reserved for the reflexive case — when the object is the same person as the subject. Compare:

First and second person have no separate reflexive — they reuse meg and deg (Jeg ser meg selv = "I see myself"). Only the third person swaps in seg. The reflexive system has its own page; the point here is just to know that ham/henne/dem are for other people, while a subject acting on itself takes seg.

Common Mistakes

The single most common object-pronoun error. De = "they" (subject); dem = "them" (object). It works exactly like English — you'd never say "We invited they."

After any preposition (til, for, med, på...) the pronoun is an object: til meg, not til jeg.

Two coordinated pronouns after a preposition still both take object form. English speakers over-correct toward "...and I"; Norwegian, like careful English, wants ...og meg.

"It" follows the noun's gender: common → den, neuter → det. There is no all-purpose "it".

The thing the verb acts on is an object — meg, never jeg.

Key Takeaways

• Object forms: meg, deg, ham/han, henne, den, det, oss, dere, dem.
• Use them when the pronoun receives the action or follows a preposition — including coordinated pairs (til ham og meg).
• de → dem mirrors English they → them exactly — a free, reliable analogy.
• "Him" is ham (always correct) or, increasingly, han (modern, informal) — a live change in the language.
• "It" is den (common gender) or det (neuter); the third-person reflexive seg is for when subject and object are the same person.