"me and my friend" or "I and my friend"

[esl learner]

Hello, could someone help me with this grammar problem:
Which one is correct:
"Me and my friend are happy" or
"I and my friend are happy" ???

I hope someone will answer soon!
Thanks!

[Rich7]

Although, you can hear someone say "me and my pal," it is not the proper way to say it, so the correct way would be: "my friend and I"

[Guest]

Though saying 'my friend and I' is the correct expression, today 'my friend and me' or myself' has come to stay. So also 'you and me' or 'myself.'

[Simon]

Phil Collins signs:

Oh think twice, it’s another day for
You and me in paradise
Oh think twice, it’s just another day for you,
You and me in paradise

And Bruce Sprongsteen signs:

Ain’t no angel gonna greet me
It’s just you and I my friend
My clothes don’t fit me no more
I walked a thousand miles
Just to slip the skin

So which of the ways is correct?

Best regards,
Simon

[Mister Micawber]

.
You'll notice, Simon, that in the Phil Collins song, you and me are both objects of the preposition for, and are therefore objective case pronouns.

Meanwhile, in the Bruce Sprongsteen [sic] number, you and I are complements of the linking verb with a preparatory it as dummy subject-- hence, nominative case pronouns are called for.

So there is a rationale for the different pronouns in the two songs.

Having said that, the object pronouns do indeed, and more and more acceptably, appear as subject complements, in part because they are in a predicative position. Me and him are happy, however, is nowhere near the realm of acceptable English yet.

Never trust a songwriter's grammar anyway. Remember that his goal is facile rhyme and catchy rhythm, rather than good grammar.
.
_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Carbonarius]

In Spanish you're expected to say 'You and I', instead of 'I and you'. It's like when you give way to another person when you both are entering or leaving a room at the same time. If you say 'I and you', and you are in an informal situation, it's very likely that a person in the group says: 'the donkey at the beginning, so that it doesn't get frightened' The donkey it's you who have put your name at the beginning.

[Rwrehfeldt]

In a sentence in which one says, for example, "My friends and I reveled," the words "friends" and "I" are in the nominative case or subject places. Most English teachers who know their stuff will say that students should identify others before concluding with "I." Thus: "Jack, Jill, Sally, and I frolicked in our alley." This is not a grammatical issue, however, but an issue of courtly gesture, that is, courtesy. A convoluted case can be made for this practice.
"Me and my friends" is both "discourteous" so to speak as well as non-standard English or sub-standard English usage in a sentence such as "Me and my friends like one another." Books on English usage often use characterizations that are not precisely accurate philosophically or linguistically: ungrammatical, proper, correct, improper, incorrect, mistake, wrong, error, and their ilk. In certain contexts these characterizations are appropriate, but not in ordinary social conversation.
A title, as for a motion picture, photograph, poem, book, or the name of a castle, may be expressed as "My Friends and I" or "My Friends and Me" if the locution has no more grammatical context. If you added a preposition in front of the locution, then standard English would prescribe "me": "From My Friends and Me."

[James M]

IMHO:

(1) "Me and my friend are happy" is bad English. Never, ever say it. Many native speakers (of all ages) speak like this, and they should be ashamed of themselves.

(2) "I and my friend are happy" is just plain rude. Many people nowadays do not have good manners. For example, some people who ask questions here do not thank people who take the time to answer them. And some people think only of themselves first. Courteous English demands "My friend and I are happy."