learn the rule

me or I?

I and me are first-person singular pronouns. The difference is grammatical case.

I is the nominative form, used when the pronoun is the subject of the sentence.

• I need to buy some potatoes.
• I am hungry.

me is the accusative form, used when the pronoun is the object.

• The potato hit me in the face.
• You are funnier than me.

Exceptions

• I is used in more formal contexts; me in informal ones. Who was it? "It was me." (informal) / "It was I." (formal)
• me is used after prepositions: "...behind John and me", not "...behind John and I".

Multiple subjects or objects

This is where most mistakes happen.

The pronoun never goes first in the list (you always place yourself last):

• Wrong: "I and my daughter went to the zoo."
• Right: "My daughter and I went to the zoo."

The same subject/object rule applies:

• Right: "My daughter and I went to the zoo." (subject)
• Right: "The bus hit Bob, Jenny, Dave, and me." (object)

The simple check: remove the other people from the sentence and see which sounds right.

• "I went to the zoo." ✓ vs "Me went to the zoo." ✗
• "The bus hit me." ✓ vs "The bus hit I." ✗

Watch out

Which one you use can change what the sentence means.

• "Jenny fancies Bob more than me" means Jenny is more attracted to Bob than she is attracted to you.
• "Jenny fancies Bob more than I" means Jenny is more attracted to Bob than you are attracted to Bob.