We and us together?

[Belles1654]

Is this sentence gramatically correct?

"We will see us on Thursday."

Or is this nonstandard english.

What is the most common way to say "we will see us" in English?

Thanks in advance, Belles

[Yankee]

Hi Belles1654

You could say "We will see each other on Thursday". You should not use 'us' in that sentence.

However, it is much more common to say "I'll see you on Thursday."
It is also extremely common to omit the first word (I'll) in that sentence, so what you would hear the most often is
"See you on Thursday".
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Belles1654]

Thanks Amy! Is it just a colliquial difference between english speakers and non-native speakers. "Us" is not a reflexive pronoun, but an objective pronoun, so is it like saying, "I will see me on Thursday". -Belles

[Yankee]

Hi Belles

Are you by any chance German? Saying "We will see us" sounds like an overly direct translation of a German sentence. My German students used to make this mistake constantly.

Right, 'us' is not a reflexive pronoun. The reflexive pronoun for 'we' is 'ourselves'. However, saying "We will see ourselves on Thursday" wouldn't make much sense.

Starting your particular sentence with 'we' requires the use of something that expresses reciprocal action, not reflexive action. In other words, reciprocal action = I'll see you and you'll also see me.

To express reciprocal action, you can use 'each other' if the number of people included by the word 'we' is two (i.e. we = you and I), or you can use 'one another' if the number of people included by the word 'we' is more than two (i.e. we = you and you and you and I). This idea of 'reciprocal action' is quite standard.

As far as I know, saying "(I'll) see you" is the most common way to say what you want to say in both British and American English. Saying "We'll see each other" is also possible, but less commonly used.
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_________________
Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Belles1654]

Thanks Amy! I'm not German, but I'm in Germany and I find many people are inquisitive about english and getting it correct. Belles

[Yankee]

Hi Belles

No wonder you asked about that then. Saying "We (will) see us" is one of the most common errors that Germans make in English. So, if you are spending a lot of time speaking English with Germans, I'm not surprised that you've heard that sentence. I do agree with you, though, that Germans are generally very interested in English and also in getting it right.

You could say this in English, for example:
We looked at ourselves in the mirror.

That could mean "I looked at myself and you looked at yourself".

Or it could mean this:
"I looked at you and me in the mirror, AND you also looked at you and me in the mirror."
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_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[englishmajor]

Is this sentence gramatically correct?

"We will see us on Thursday."

Or is this nonstandard english.

"We will see us on Thursday" is bad English.

You should say, "We will see you on Thursday."

Or you could say, "We'll see you on Thursday." You is plural when used that way.

In America, we say, "See you all later." or "See y'all later", if you are a Texan.

englishmajor

[Yankee]

[englishmajor]

Tough crowd here. Im new. Gimme a break. See y'all later.

[Torsten]

Hi Englishmajor,

I hope it's OK for you if I point out that your sentence should read I'm new here.
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