Object pronouns: meg, deg, ham, henne
When a person isn't doing the action but receiving it, or comes after a preposition, Norwegian uses the object form: jeg becomes meg, vi becomes oss – just like English I → me, we → us.
We teach Bokmål, the written standard most people in Norway use.
In short: one object form for everything: Hun ser meg (she sees me). Hun gir meg en bok (she gives me a book). Hun snakker med meg (she talks with me).
What is this about?
In a sentence there's often someone doing something and someone it happens to. «Kari ringer Per» (Kari calls Per): Kari does the calling, Per receives it. When we replace the names with pronouns, we use different forms: «Hun ringer ham» (She calls him).
Norwegian pronouns have a separate object form: «jeg» becomes «meg» (me), «vi» becomes «oss» (us), «de» becomes «dem» (them). You use it when the person receives the action: «Kari hjelper meg» (Kari helps me). And you always use it after prepositions: «med meg» (with me), «til deg» (to you), «hos oss» (at our place). For «him» you can say «ham» or «han» – both are correct.
This is almost exactly like English: I – me, we – us, they – them. Even Norwegians mix up «de» and «dem», since they sound much alike. A handy test: if English would say «them», Norwegian wants «dem».
Rules
- jeg → meg (me), du → deg (you), han → ham or han (him), hun → henne (her), den → den, det → det (it), vi → oss (us), dere → dere (you), de → dem (them).
- Use the object form after the verb when the person receives the action: Kari ringer meg. Jeg hjelper henne.
- And always after prepositions: med meg, til deg, for oss, hos dem, uten ham: Kommer du med oss på kino? (Are you coming to the cinema with us?)
- ham or han? Both are correct Bokmål: Jeg ser ham / Jeg ser han. Ham is more common in writing; lots of people say han.
- de = they, dem = them: De bor i Drammen. Jeg besøker dem. In some dialects you'll hear «dem» as the subject, but write de.
- den and det for things (it): Jeg finner ikke nøkkelen. Har du sett den? Huset er solgt – vi solgte det i mai.
- A short pronoun goes before ikke: Jeg kjenner ham ikke (I don't know him). But: Jeg kjenner ikke Ola.
- Two objects: the person first, the thing second, like English: Kan du gi meg saltet? Jeg viste dem leiligheten.
- After enn (than) and som (as) both forms are fine: Han er eldre enn meg / enn jeg. And «it's me» is Det er meg: Hvem er det? – Det er meg, Ali.
- Same person as a third-person subject? Use seg: Han vasker seg (himself). Han vasker ham = someone else. Jeg vasker meg, du vasker deg.
Typical mistake: English has one «you», Norwegian has two. One person: Jeg ringer deg. Several people: Jeg ringer dere.
Examples
- Kan du ringe meg etter jobben?Can you call me after work?
- Vi har ikke sett henne siden jul.We haven't seen her since Christmas.
- Mormor bor hos oss i sommer.Grandma is staying with us this summer.
- Barna sover. Ikke vekk dem!The children are asleep. Don't wake them!
- Jeg har kjøpt en gave til deg.I've bought a present for you.
- Kjenner du Ahmed? – Ja, jeg jobber sammen med ham.Do you know Ahmed? – Yes, I work with him.
- Legen ga meg en resept på antibiotika.The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics.
- Hvem har tatt den siste kaffen? – Det var meg, beklager!Who took the last coffee? – It was me, sorry!