Me, You, Him: Object Pronouns

You already know я, ты, он — the pronouns you use as the subject ("I see," "you know"). But the moment a pronoun becomes the object of the verb — "he knows me," "I love you," "I see them" — its shape changes, just as English "I" becomes "me" and "he" becomes "him." This page gives you the seven object pronouns you'll use constantly from your first conversations, and two things English speakers need to unlearn: that these forms double as both the "direct object" case and the "of/none" case, and that a short pronoun object normally comes before the verb in Russian, not after it.

The object forms

Here are the object pronouns alongside their subject (nominative) forms:

Two pronunciation notes. The г in его́ is pronounced like a v — say "yi-VO," not "yi-GO"; this is a fixed quirk of the genitive/accusative ending -его. And the dots on её matter: it is её, with stress on the ё (ё is always stressed), said "yi-YO."

One set, two jobs: accusative = genitive

Russian nouns have six cases, and a direct object normally goes in the accusative ("I see him"), while certain other constructions — negation, the word нет, and many prepositions — call for the genitive ("there's no him," "from him"). Here is the beginner-friendly news: for personal pronouns these two cases are spelled exactly the same. меня́, тебя́, его́, её, нас, вас, их do double duty. You don't have to learn a separate set.

So the same его́ works in both of these:

This syncretism (one form covering two cases) is a real gift at A1: where nouns force you to choose between accusative and genitive endings, pronouns hand you one form for both. The deeper reason these forms behave like the genitive is the animacy rule — for animate masculine nouns and for all personal pronouns, the accusative copies the genitive; see the accusative animacy rule.

Word order: the object pronoun comes first

In English the object follows the verb without exception: "I love you," "he knows me." In neutral Russian, a short pronoun object usually comes before the verb: Я тебя́ люблю́, Он меня́ зна́ет. This is not poetic inversion — it's the unmarked, everyday order. The pronoun is "light" information (the speaker and listener already know who is meant), so it tucks in close to the subject and lets the verb carry the new weight at the end.

Putting the pronoun after the verb (Я люблю́ тебя́) is not wrong, but it shifts emphasis onto the pronoun — "I love you (specifically)" — and feels marked or emphatic. For a plain statement, lead with the pronoun.

A heads-up: the н- after prepositions

There's one wrinkle you'll meet soon but can set aside for now. When the third-person object pronouns его́, её, их follow a preposition, they grow an initial н-: у него́ ("at his place"), для неё ("for her"), без них ("without them"). The bare его́/её/их (no preposition) stay as they are. So:

This affects only он/она́/оно́/они́ and only after a real preposition; first- and second-person pronouns (меня́, тебя́, нас, вас) never change. The full story is on the н- after prepositions page — don't worry about it while you're drilling the basic object forms.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Seven object pronouns: меня́, тебя́, его́, её, нас, вас, их — used as the object of the verb ("he knows me", "I love you").
• One form, two cases: these same forms serve as both the accusative (direct object) and the genitive (after нет, negation, many prepositions) — you needn't learn two sets.
• Word order: a short pronoun object normally goes before the verb in neutral Russian — Я тебя́ люблю́, not the English-style Я люблю́ тебя́ (which sounds emphatic).
• Pronunciation: его́ is "yi-VO" (г = v); её is stressed on the ё ("yi-YO").
• Coming next: его́/её/их add н- after a preposition (у него́, для неё) — covered on the н- page; for the complete six-case grid see personal pronoun forms.