He and I at the Cooking Class

Start with the sentence, not the people. Your brother stays the same person whether he carries a tray or someone helps him. The pronoun changes because his job in the sentence changes. Use he and I when the pair is the subject. Use him and me when another person helps, invites, or teaches the pair. Being ready also takes a subject, even though it is not an action.

Replace the whole pair with one short word. If we fits, choose he and I. If us fits, choose him and me. This works even when several words come before the pair. Do not choose only by where the pair appears on the page. In a question such as “Can he and I start?”, the pair is still the subject, although can comes first.

Você pode praticar isso novamente em He and I, Him and Me: Planning a Community Lunch e He and I are or am: Choosing the Right Verb.

Small words can give you a clear clue. For, with, and to connect people to the rest of a sentence. These words are called prepositions. When the pair comes directly after one of them, use him and me. The pair might receive something, work beside someone, or join an activity. You do not need to decide whether the people are physically active; the preposition determines the form.

A common mistake is choosing him and I because I seems more polite than me. Politeness does not decide the form. Check each person separately: “The teacher thanked him” and “The teacher thanked me” both work. Together, they become him and me. A name keeps its form, but the pronoun still changes. When checking a subject separately, you may also need to change are to is or am.

He and I refers to two people, so use are rather than is or am. The same pattern gives you were and have, as in “He and I have enough time.” With ordinary present verbs, use need or want rather than needs or wants. Can stays the same with one person or two. Choose the pronouns first, then check that the verb fits the whole pair.

In everyday speech, and often sounds short and quiet. Listen for the pronoun before it and the pronoun after it. The final m in him can help you distinguish him from he, while I and me have different vowel sounds. Use the sentence meaning to predict a possible pair, then listen again to confirm it. For recall practice, repeat the phrase before typing the complete message.

A correct pronoun can still confuse a reader who does not know the person. In a message, introduce your brother, friend, or classmate before using he or him. Then choose the pair according to its sentence job. You can use we and us later to avoid repeating the same pair. Free writing allows that choice; dictation requires the words spoken. Check both the grammar and who each pronoun means.