us
- 1Me and one or more other people, used after a verb or preposition or after 'be': 'Tell us,' 'It's us.'
Please call us when your plane lands.
Thanks for driving us home, Dad.
UsageUse we as the subject: we went. Use us as the object: they helped us.
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- 2Short for the United States, a country in North America. People usually say the US.
My cousin moved to the US last year.
Many tourists visit the US every summer.
UsageSay in the US, but US companies.
- 3Used to mean something I belong to or feel part of, like my school, company, team or country.
My country has no oil, so other countries sell it to us.
Customers keep coming back to us because the service is friendly.
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- 4Used to talk about people in general, not one special group.
Too much sugar is bad for us.
Music can make us feel happy or sad.
- 5Used by someone talking to a group to make the listeners feel part of what the speaker is doing.
Right, viewers, next I'll grab us a big mixing bowl.
"This next step takes us to the fun part," the cooking teacher told the class.
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Less common meanings
- 6An informal way of saying 'me', especially in requests like 'Give us a hand.'
Give us a hand with this heavy box, mate, because I can't lift it alone.
Get us a cup of tea while you're up, because I'm too tired to move.
UsageUse me in formal writing or when us might mean several people.
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- 7Used before a word for a group to show the speaker is part of it: 'us nurses', 'us fans'.
The coach gave us players a long talk after the game.
There isn't much to do in this town for us teenagers.
UsageSay for us nurses, but we nurses work hard.
- 8Used to mean you, the person or people being spoken to.
Right, young man, time to get us into the bath.
Time to get us out of bed, Mr. Brown.
UsageIt can sound kind to a child but rude to an adult.
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- 9Used to mean our, as in us house or us dog.
Come round to us house after tea.
Somebody's parked in front of us garage again.
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- 10Plural of U. Use it when talking about more than one U.
My little sister writes her Us and Vs the same way.
The word cucumber has two Us.
UsageYou can write U's to keep it apart from us.
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Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
From Old English ūs, which meant the same thing. Similar words are Dutch ons and German uns.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- English us derives from Old English ūs. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English ūs meant us. en.wiktionary.org
- Dutch ons and German uns are cognates of English us. en.wiktionary.org
Short for United States.