Agreement Between Subjects and Verbs

Examine these following sentences:

• The banana is ripe.
• The girl is angry.
• The man has money.
• She does not know where he is.
• My brother likes sweets.

• The bananas are ripe.
• The girls are angry.
• The men have money.
• They do not know where he is.
• My brother and my sister like sweets.

From the two sets of examples above you see that verbs (in bold) agree with their subjects in number. Singular subjects take singular verbs. Plural subjects take plural verbs. Usually singular verbs take "-s" ending. Some verbs especially those that end with "-o" like "to do" and "to go" or those that end with "-tch" or "-th" take "-es" ending for the singular form. Examples are:

• to sit - sits
• to drink - drinks
• to eat - eats
• to catch - catches
• to watch - watches
• to go - goes
• to do - does
• to move - moves

A care must be taken for the verb "to be" and "to have" because they take their singular forms in quite different ways from the regular verbs. "to have" becomes "has" and "to be" is a little tricky to get both the singular and plural forms:

"To be" becomes:

• I am (singular)
• You are (singular)
• He is (singular)
• She is (singular)
• It is (singular)
• We are (plural)
• You are (plural)
• They are (plural)

Adjective and Possessive Pronouns

Adjective pronouns or sometimes they are called adjective determiners are pronouns that describe belongings. Adjective pronouns in English are my, your, his, her, our, your (plural) and their.
The following instances describe the use of the adjective pronouns:

He's just borrowed my book (bukuku).
I don't need your money (uangmu).
I don't know his name (namanya, nama seorang laki-laki).
I think it is her car (mobilnya, mobil seorang wanita).
Do you think he knows the way to our house? (rumah kita).
Those are your books on the table! (buku kalian).
Their school is located near ours! (sekolah mereka).

Possessive pronouns also describe belongings but they stand there without the nouns. In English, possessive pronouns are mine, yours, his, hers, ours, yours (plural) and theirs.
Here are some examples of the possessive pronouns:

That is my computer. That computer is mine (milikku).
I saw you park your car in the corner over there. Is that car yours over there? (milikmu).
I know he placed his milk in the fridge. That's why I did not take it because I know the milk is his. (milik dia seorang laki-laki).
She's just bought a new car. The shiny car over there, it is hers! (milik dia seorang perempuan).
I love this house. I am going to buy it, soon the house will be ours! (milik kita).
These uniforms, they look like yours! (milik kalian)
I saw a lot of guitars in the hall, perhaps the guitars are theirs. (milik mereka).

Subjective and Objective Pronouns

A subjective pronoun is a pronoun that is used as the subject in a sentence. In English, subjective pronouns are:

I (saya)
You (kamu)
He (dia, laki-laki)
She (dia, perempuan)
We (kami atau kita)
You (kalian)
They (mereka)

For Examples (The subjective pronouns are in blue):

I live in Bandung, Indonesia.
You come from Medan in Sumatra.
He knows what to do.
She has a lot of money.
We will help you if you need us.
You all have to go now.
They are good fellows.

An objective pronoun is a pronoun that is used as an object in a sentence. In English, objective pronouns are:

me (saya)
you (kamu)
him (dia, laki-laki)
her (dia, perempuan)
us (kami)
you (kamu)
them (mereka)

For examples (The objective pronouns are in red whilst the subjective pronouns are in blue):

She knows that she loves me.
I will meet you later in the afternoon.
Do you know her?
Please don't tell him if I want to make a surprise for him.
Who is going to join us in the party?
OK, we will meet you all again tomorrow.
We will never be like them the movie stars you see on TV.