Object pronouns in English
An object pronoun is a personal pronoun, such as me, you, him, her, it, us, and them, that
receives the action of a verb or follows a preposition in a sentence. Object pronouns
substitute nouns that are acting as the object of a verb (either directly or indirectly) or the
object of a preposition, typically appearing after the verb or preposition.
Examples in sentences:

"She called him" - Him receives the action of the verb "called".

"My dad fixed my screen door. We made a cake to thank him" - Him replaces "my dad"
and follows the preposition "to".

"I spent the week with my family. I love them so much" - Them replaces "my family"
and follows the verb "love".
How to identify an object pronoun:
1. Find the verb or preposition: Object pronouns typically come after a verb or a
preposition.
2. Identify the receiver of the action: The object pronoun is the word that represents the
person or thing being affected by the verb's action or following the preposition.
3. Test by separation: For "Homework is easy for Sam and me," you can test it by
mentally separating the pronouns: "Homework is easy for me." This confirms the use
of the object pronoun "me" rather than the subject pronoun "I".
Shona object pronouns
In Shona, there are no separate "object pronouns" like in English; instead, subject pronoun
forms are used as object pronouns by placing them after the verb, often prefixed to it as a clitic
(an unstressed word that normally occurs only in combination with another word, for
example 'm in I'm), to indicate that the action is being received by that person or thing. For
example, where English uses "me," Shona uses forms of "ini" (I) and "ndi-" (I/me) in the object
position, and where English uses "him," Shona uses forms of "iye" (he/she) and "a-" (he/she).
Subject vs. Object Pronouns in English
To understand this concept, consider the difference in English:

Subject Pronouns
(I, you, he, she, it, we, they) perform the action.


Example: I gave him the book.
Object Pronouns
(me, you, him, her, it, us, them) receive the action.

Example: I gave him the book.
Object Pronouns in Shona
Shona uses a single set of forms for pronouns that function as both subjects and objects. The
function is determined by its position in the sentence.

"I": (subject) or "me" (object): ini

"You": (singular, subject or object): iwe

"He/She": (subject) or "him/her" (object): iye

"We": (subject) or "us" (object): isu

"They": (subject) or "them" (object): ivo
How it Works in Shona (Example)
In Shona, the object pronoun is often a prefix attached to the verb.

He saw him: (He saw the man): Amuona
o
A = He (subject prefix)
o
mu- = him (object prefix)
o
ona = saw (verb)
This means that Shona does not have a distinct set of "object pronouns" but rather uses its
subject pronoun forms as object forms depending on their position.
Shona is special in that our subjects and objects can be indicated by things called subject
concords or object concords, which are basically prefixes in front of words that show who the
subject is, that show who’s doing what. So we sometimes use the pronouns a lot, but we can
drop them altogether. But we will learn them anyway so that when you hear them, you
understand them.
How do I say “I”? “I” is “ini.” “Ini,” but when it’s attached to a word, it’s “ndi-.” “Ndi-.”
“You” is “iwe.” “Iwe.” And the prefix when attached to a word is “u-.” “U-.”
“He” or “she” is exactly the same. Shona is kind of genderless that way. It’s “iye.” “Iye.” And
the prefix concord is “a-.” “A-.”
“We” is “isu.” “Isu.” The prefix concord is “ti-.” “Ti-.”
“They” is “ivo.” “Ivo.” And the prefix concord is “va-.” “Va-.”
Then there’s “it.” There are a lot of “it’s.” We’re not going to worry about “it” today. We’ll
worry about “it” in another episode.
So for today, let’s focus on just the human pronouns.
I
You
She
We
They = ivo, va-
=
ini,
iwe,
=
or
He
=
=
iye,
isu,
ndiuati-