us
- 1Used by a speaker or writer to refer to themselves and one or more others, with or without the listener; used as the object of a verb or preposition, after be, or alone.
You can't keep treating us like children, Mr. Hale.
When you visit next month, you're welcome to stay with us.
UsageUse us after a verb or preposition: with us, tell us. Use we as the subject: we went.
Note
English uses one form both for the exclusive us, which leaves the listener out, and for the inclusive us, which takes the listener in. Only the situation shows that the listener is left out, and a you set against us is the usual signal, as in don't treat us like idiots.
- 2Short for the United States: the United States of America, a country in North America.
The company plans to open its first store in the US next spring.
She works as a translator for a US law firm in Toronto.
UsageAlone it takes the: in the US. Before another noun, the goes with that noun: US firms, the US Army.
- 3Used to refer to any entity the speaker is part of or identifies with, such as a workplace, school, nation, region or language.
People in the capital tend to forget about us out here in the north.
Three rival firms tried to buy us last year, but the board turned them all down.
Note
Fans use it for teams they only watch: they thrashed us 5-0, says a supporter who never touched the ball. The same stretch lets a citizen speak for a nation, as in the rest of Europe hates us, or an employee for a firm; belonging here is a matter of loyalty or membership, not of having taken part.
- 4Used to refer to people in general rather than to any particular group.
Sleep deprivation slows us down in ways that are hard to notice.
Nothing humbles us quite like a serious illness.
- 5Used to draw a group of listeners into the speaker’s experiences or activities by suggesting that they share in them.
Welcome back, everyone. Today I'm going to build us a simple bookshelf from scrap wood.
Alright, chat, let me just grab us a health potion before the boss fight.
Note
Video makers lean on it to keep an audience close: the presenter does all the work, yet the viewers are folded in, as in first let's get us a few ingredients. Where the coaxing us puts the listener to work, this one leaves the listener watching.
Less common meanings
- 6Me, used especially after verbs such as give, get, lend and fetch. In Northumbrian dialect it can stand for me in any position.
Give us a hand with these boxes, would you, mate? They weigh a ton.
Fetch us a towel from the cupboard, love, because I've got shampoo in my eyes.
UsageUse me in formal writing or when us could be mistaken for a plural.
Similarme
Note
The form is plural but the meaning is singular: give us a look means give me a look.
- 7Used before a plural noun naming a group to show that the speaker belongs to it. Standard after a verb or preposition; as the subject in place of we, it is nonstandard.
The new policy makes life harder for us nurses on the night shift.
Management rarely consults us engineers before changing the schedule.
UsageDrop the noun to check: for us teachers is right because for us is. As the subject, use we teachers.
- 8Used to refer to the person or people being spoken to, not to the speaker.
All right, Mrs. Patel, time to get us sitting up so the doctor can listen to your chest.
Look at the state of you! Let me get us cleaned up before Grandma sees.
UsageCan sound kind to a child or a patient, but often sounds condescending to an adult.
Note
The speaker joins in by grammar while the listener does the work: wakey wakey, let's get us up and out of bed.
- 9Used before a noun in place of our, to show that something belongs to or is connected with the speaker and others.
Me mam's been walking us dog all week.
The fridge packed in, so all us food's gone off.
Similarour
Note
Across Northern England, and in Nottinghamshire too, us takes the place of our before a noun: we'll have to throw us food out.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Us is used in place of our before a noun in Northern England and Nottinghamshire. en.wiktionary.org
- 10Plural of U.
The tables were arranged in two Us facing each other.
In the old inscription, the Vs and Us are carved exactly alike.
UsageWritten Us or U's; U's keeps it apart from the word us at the start of a sentence.
Note
The plural covers every kind of U: letters on a page, shapes bent like one, U-turns, and in Britain films rated U. Capitalized, it clashes with the pronoun only at the start of a sentence, where U's is the clearer choice, just as u's is for the small letter.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Britain uses the U film classification. en.wiktionary.org
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Proto-Indo-European *n̥smé ("us"), altered to *n̥swé, gave Proto-Germanic *uns, then Proto-West Germanic *uns and Old English ūs, a dative personal pronoun meaning "us." Middle English kept it as us, but the long vowel shortened there because the word was usually unstressed. Its relatives include West Frisian ús, Dutch ons, German uns, Danish os and Latin nōs ("we, us").
An abbreviation of United States.