I versus Me

‘I and ‘Me’ are both personal and singular pronouns. They are both used by a person to refer to himself or herself.

I

It is used as a subjective pronoun; it is used as a subject of a verb. Here ‘I’ becomes the subject doing the verb.
E.g.

• I am studying for a Russian test.
• I can speak Russian, but I can’t read it very well.

Me

It is an objective pronoun and it is used for the object of the sentence. It is used for the receiver of the action of the verb.
E.g.

• My math teacher encouraged me to come after school for extra help.
• She asked me to bring my homework.

Me can also be used as a preposition, such as to or with.
E.g.

• When Julia didn’t need her coffee table anymore, she gave it to me.
• Do you want to come with me to the movies?

This confusion usually occurs when you have I/me connected to another pronoun or name with “and” or “or.” I believe that the confusion begins when someone says something like “John and me are ready” and that is corrected to “John and I are ready.” The speaker then thinks, “Oh, the word ‘and’ means that I should always use I.” This is not the case. “And” has nothing to do with it; the reason you say “John and I” in that sentence is that “John and I” are the subject. If they were the object, you’d use me: “He told John and me to get ready.” If you are not good with grammar concepts like subject and objects, there is still a very easy way to decide whether to use I or me: try out the sentence with just I or me (or if you need a plural, we or us – “we” is equivalent to “I” and “us” is equivalent to “me.”)