Do you know the difference between the words we and us ? If you do, how would you explain it to a beginner English learner?
The truth is that, despite seeming simple, these two little words cause a lot of confusion even for native English speakers. But this article will explain, once and for all, what the difference is between we and us!
Do you remember the pronouns from your Portuguese classes at school? Some caused the action of the sentence (direct pronouns) and others received it (oblique pronouns). In Portuguese, this is the difference between the words “nós” and “nos”.
But to make it easier to understand, let’s give an example. Imagine that you and some friends are playing volleyball on a court, when a group of boys arrive who also want to play.
Two things can happen: you can take the initiative to ask them to play, or they can ask to play. Let’s put this into sentences?
We asked them to play.
They asked us to play.
Note that in the first sentence, the initiative came from you ─ you took the action of calling the boys to the game. In this case, the direct pronoun “we” was used. In the second sentence, the action came from them and you received it. In it, the oblique pronoun “us” was used. Got it?
That’s exactly the difference between we and us ! We is the equivalent of “we” and is used to indicate who is doing the action; us is the equivalent of “us ” and indicates who is receiving the action.
For those of you who like the technical details like me, we is a subject pronoun and us is an object pronoun.
But enough theory, let’s get down to practice! Let’s look at some sentences to make the difference between our little words today, starting with we , clear :
We
ordered another bottle of champagne .
We both swore we’d be friends forever.
We both swore we’d be friends forever.
(Read the post What’s the difference between Always, Forever and Ever? )
Can we
go to the swimming pool this afternoon?
If
you don’t hurry up we ‘ll be late.
(Read the post How do you say “To Be/To Arrive Late” in English? )
Do
n’t you think we should ask this young man some technical questions ?
In today’s lecture, we will be exploring the world economic situation.
We need to take care of our bodies.
We need to take care of our bodies.
(Read the post Take Care Of | What does this phrasal verb mean? )
We were just chatting about what we
did last weekend.
We were
n’t married in church, but we had a civil ceremony in a registry office .
Now, look at sentences with us being translated as “us”:
Thank you
for driving us to the station .
We really appreciate all the help you gave us last weekend .
The
teacher asked us to form a circle and join hands.
Paula ‘s coming to visit us in September. ( Read
the post English Structures: Months of the Year )
This brings us to the second question I asked.
They
took us to the circus and it was so much fun !
Now, look at some sentences that use both we and us :
We askedher to
follow us .
We did
n’t want him to join us , so we got out while he was still in bed .
He
showed us aspects of the game that we had never seen before .
We were asked to show some identification before the security guards would
let us in .
Gerald
asked us if we ‘ d go to London .
So far, that’s easy, right? But now things get a little more complicated: us won’t always be translated as “us.” Often, us is also translated as “we .” The key is to realize that, even then, this “we” will always be receiving the action, not doing it. Note:
If you get to the restaurant before us just wait at the bar.
She thinks she ‘s better than the rest of us .
Neither of us forgot about it. (
Read the post What is the difference between Either and Neither? )
Heather went to the kitchen to get drinks for us .
They
do n’t like us much .
But does that mean that us will never perform the action in the sentence? Well, not really. It can perform the action, as long as it is in structures like all of us, each of us or many of us . See:
All of us will
struggle hard to survive if we are in danger.
Each of us will have
our own office.
Many of
us in the editorial department disagree with the changes that are happening.
(Read the post Disagree With | What does this phrasal verb mean? )
Finally, it is worth mentioning that us , in informal British English, can mean the same as me . Strange, right! Just look:
Please give us a little help , mate.
Come on, give us a kiss.
Come on, give me a kiss.
Give us
it here and I ‘ll see if I can mend it.
“Hang on
a bit,” said Eileen. “I’m not finished yet. Give us a chance .”
Phew! Now we have reached the end of our explanation. Did you like our article? Then share it with your friends. If you have any questions, just leave your comment below. Oh! And don’t forget to add the phrases from this article to your Anki . See you next time!