Using "them" instead of "they"

[maryawilma]

I would not say that I am a beginner at all, but when talking to some people here in the US, i got so confused with the using of "them" for example:
I had a meeting with them guys in their garage!!!
Can you explain the using of them in this sentence?
Thanks

[Hieu]

Hi Maryawilma,

"Them" is an object pronoun. As an object pronoun, it can come after a verb as an object of the verb, or after a preposition as an object of the preposition or after the verb BE.

Example:
Tell them your story.
I had a meeting with them guys in their garage yesterday.
It's them.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any problem.

Regards,
Pham Trung Hieu

[Conchita]

[Jamie (K)]

"Them guys" is not correct, standard English, but is said in some colloquial dialects in both the US and the UK. People think it sounds low-class and uneducated. The standard expression is "those guys", although "guy" is an informal word.

Conchita, in US English, "guy" also usually refers to a man or boy, and ""guys" refers to men or boys. The only exception is with the expression "you guys". When I was a child, "you guys" could be used only when addressing males. However, in the northern US, we don't have a plural form of "you", so in the colloquial language "you guys" has filled the gap and can now be used with men or women. In non-standard, spoken language, some people even make it possessive, as "yer guys" or "yer guys's". You can hear this possessive form a lot in the movie Napoleon Dynamite.