The object pronoun is the one on the receiving end — the "me," "him," "us," "them." Swedish, like English, keeps distinct object forms that differ from the subject forms: just as English changes he to him, Swedish changes han to honom. You use the object form in two places: after a verb (as the thing being acted on) and after a preposition (med mig, "with me"; till honom, "to him"). This page gives you the full set, the natural spoken pronunciations, and the notorious de / dem spelling problem that even native Swedes wrestle with.
The full set, paired with the subject forms
| Subject | Object | English (object) |
|---|---|---|
| jag | mig | me |
| du | dig | you (sg.) |
| han | honom | him |
| hon | henne | her |
| hen | hen | them (sg.) / him-or-her |
| den | den | it (en-word) |
| det | det | it (ett-word) |
| man | en | one |
| vi | oss | us |
| ni | er | you (pl.) |
| de | dem | them |
Notice that several forms don't change at all between subject and object: hen, den, det are the same in both roles. The ones that do change are the high-frequency human pronouns — jag/mig, du/dig, han/honom, hon/henne, vi/oss, ni/er, de/dem — so those are the ones worth drilling.
Object after a verb
When the pronoun is the thing the verb acts on, use the object form.
Jag ser honom varje dag på bussen.
I see him every day on the bus. honom = him, the object of ser.
Känner du henne? Jag tror att hon jobbar här.
Do you know her? I think she works here. henne (object) vs hon (subject) — both 'she/her' in English.
Vi bjöd dem på middag igår.
We invited them to dinner yesterday. dem = them, the object.
Ring mig när du kommer fram.
Call me when you arrive. mig = me.
Object after a preposition
This is where English speakers often slip. In Swedish — exactly as in English — a pronoun after a preposition takes the object form. So it's med mig ("with me"), never med jag.
Kom med mig, så visar jag vägen.
Come with me and I'll show you the way. After the preposition med, use the object form mig.
Det här brevet är till honom, inte till dig.
This letter is for him, not for you. till + honom / till + dig — object forms after the preposition.
Kan du sitta bredvid oss?
Can you sit next to us? bredvid + oss.
en — the object of man
The generic man ("one / you / people") has the object form en (and possessive ens). Don't confuse this en with the indefinite article en ("a") — same spelling, different word.
Sådant gör en glad.
Things like that make one happy. en = the object form of generic man.
Spoken forms: mej, dej, sej, dom
Swedish spelling and Swedish speech part ways with these pronouns, and you need to recognize both:
- mig, dig, sig are pronounced mej, dej, sej — the -ig is said as "-ej." Everyone says it this way; only the spelling keeps the -ig. In casual writing you will sometimes see mej / dej / sej spelled out (informal).
- dem is pronounced "dom" — and, like the subject de, is often written dom in casual text.
Jag tar med mig en jacka. (spoken: 'Jag tar me mej en jacka.')
I'll bring a jacket (with me). Written mig, said 'mej' — always.
Jag känner inte dem. (spoken: 'Jag känner inte dom.')
I don't know them. Written dem, said 'dom'.
The de / dem problem — why it's hard even for natives
Here is the deep point. In speech, both the subject de and the object dem are pronounced the same: "dom." So when a Swede sits down to write, their ear gives them no clue which one to spell — de or dem? This is genuinely one of the most common spelling difficulties in Swedish, debated in newspapers and classrooms, and many fluent native writers get it wrong.
As a learner, you can sidestep the whole problem by going through the grammar rather than the sound:
- de = subject ("they" doing something): De kommer imorgon.
- dem = object (after a verb or preposition): Jag såg dem. / med dem.
- In casual writing, many people just write dom for both, which is accepted as informal but avoided in formal text.
De ringde mig, så jag ringde dem tillbaka.
They called me, so I called them back. de (subject, doing the action) vs dem (object, receiving it) — both 'dom' out loud.
Dom ringde mig, så jag ringde dom tillbaka. (casual texting)
Same sentence in informal writing, with dom for both — fine in a text, avoid in formal writing.
This is a real divergence from English: English marks the object by word order and form together (I see them, never I see they), but the English forms are never homophones with their subject counterparts. Swedish object forms are mostly distinct in writing too — except de and dem, whose spoken merger into "dom" is exactly what makes them hard.
Common Mistakes
❌ Kom med jag. (for 'Come with me')
Incorrect — after a preposition, use the object form mig, not the subject jag.
✅ Kom med mig.
Come with me.
❌ Jag ser han. (for 'I see him')
Incorrect — the object of the verb must be honom, not the subject form han.
✅ Jag ser honom.
I see him.
❌ Jag gav boken till de. (for 'I gave the book to them')
Incorrect — after the preposition till you need the object form dem (said 'dom'), not de.
✅ Jag gav boken till dem.
I gave the book to them.
❌ Dem är mina vänner. (for 'They are my friends')
Incorrect — here 'they' is the subject, so it's de, not dem. (Both sound like 'dom'.)
✅ De är mina vänner.
They are my friends.
❌ Vill du följa med oss? — Ja, jag följer med ni. (for 'with you')
Incorrect — after med you need the object form er, not the subject ni.
✅ Jag följer med er.
I'll come with you (pl.).
Key Takeaways
- The object set: mig, dig, honom, henne, hen, den, det, en, oss, er, dem — used after verbs and after prepositions (med mig, till honom).
- hen, den, det are identical in subject and object roles; the changing forms are the human pronouns (jag/mig, han/honom, etc.).
- mig, dig, sig are pronounced mej, dej, sej; dem is pronounced "dom."
- The de / dem distinction is hard because both are "dom" in speech — learn it by role (subject de vs object dem), and use dom only in casual writing.
- Orthography: write honom, henne, dem with full spelling; the spoken mej/dej/sej and dom belong to (informal) registers.
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Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
- Subject PronounsA1 — The Swedish subject personal pronouns — jag, du, han, hon, hen, den, det, man, vi, ni, de — including that de is pronounced (and often spelled) 'dom', that hen is the standard gender-neutral pronoun, and that den/det are the inanimate 'it' chosen by gender. Because Swedish verbs don't conjugate, the pronoun carries all the person information.
- The Reflexive Pronoun sigA2 — When the object of a verb is the same person as the subject, Swedish 1st and 2nd persons just reuse the ordinary object pronoun (jag tvättar mig, du tvättar dig) — but the 3rd person has a dedicated reflexive word, sig, for he/she/it/they/one. Using honom or henne instead of sig flips the meaning to 'someone else', a mistake English's '-self' suffix makes very easy to fall into.
- de vs dem vs dom: The Great DebateB1 — Sweden's single most argued-about grammar point: de is the subject 'they', dem is the object 'them', but in speech BOTH are pronounced 'dom' — which is why even native writers mix them up. The reliable fix is the han/honom test: if 'he' fits, write de; if 'him' fits, write dem. This page gives you the test, the spoken dom, and the ongoing reform debate.
- Swedish Prepositions: OverviewA2 — The big picture of Swedish prepositions. Three facts to internalize first: (1) prepositions take NO case — the noun after them is completely unchanged, unlike German or Russian; (2) they map to English non-obviously, with på/i/till the worst offenders, so they must be learned per collocation rather than translated; and (3) prepositions are normally STRANDED — left at the end — in questions and relative clauses (Vem pratade du med? 'Who did you talk to?'), which is the neutral order, not the casual one. Fixed verb+preposition and noun+preposition combinations (intresserad av) must simply be memorized.