Is it, "Me and dad" or is it, "Dad and I"?

1. What the basic rule actually is — subject vs. object

English’s unmarked clause order places the subject before the verb, so the pronoun that’s part of a subject takes the nominative form (“I”), while the pronoun that’s part of an object takes the objective form (“me”); examples and discussion of SVO order appear in primers on sentence patterns and academic writing guides ^{[1] [2]}. If the coordinated phrase is the subject (the doer of the verb), standard grammar expects “Dad and I” as in “Dad and I left early”; if the coordinated phrase is the object (the receiver of an action), standard grammar expects “Dad and me” as in “She called Dad and me” ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Why people say “Me and Dad” anyway — usage, emphasis, and register

Informal spoken English often uses “me” in places prescriptive guides label incorrect; “Me and Dad” occurs frequently in casual speech because spoken registers tolerate relaxed pronoun forms and because conversational emphasis sometimes reshuffles normal order (noted in discussions of inversion and register differences) ^{[3] [2]}. Style conventions (and many teaching resources) also recommend mentioning the other person first — “Dad and I” — as a politeness norm, so social convention and formality push speakers toward that order even when the grammar is contested (available sources do not give a single source prescribing the politeness rule but show ordering norms and subject–verb expectations) ^{[1] [2]}.

3. Quick test you can use in any sentence

To decide which form to use, drop the other person and try the sentence alone: “I went” = correct → “Dad and I went”; “She saw me” = correct → “She saw Dad and me.” That simple substitution test is the standard classroom trick tied to the SVO description of English clause structure ^{[1] [2]}.

4. Exceptions, special constructions, and inverted orders

English allows some departures from the usual SVO surface order for questions, imperatives, and certain stylistic inversions; grammars and usage discussions explain that subject–verb order can invert in well-defined contexts (questions, fronting) and that these are exceptions rather than a rejection of the subject/object pronoun distinction ^{[3] [2]}. Passive voice and coordination with different connectives can change which element is core subject vs. object, so always identify the grammatical role before choosing “I” vs. “me” ^{[1] [2]}.

5. What prescriptive guides vs. descriptive linguistics say

Prescriptive guides and many school grammar lessons insist on “Dad and I” for subjects and “Dad and me” for objects; descriptive linguistics notes that spoken varieties may differ and documents widespread informal “me”-first usages, but descriptive accounts do not invalidate the subject/object morphological contrast — they simply record variation and pragmatic factors ^{[1] [2] [3]}. The typological literature underlines that English is SVO, which explains why subject identification matters for pronoun choice ^{[1] [4]}.

6. Practical advice: when to follow which form

In formal writing, interviews, and jobs, follow the nominative/objective test and use “Dad and I” as the subject and “Dad and me” as the object ^{[2] [1]}. In casual speech among friends or in dialogue you may mirror real spoken usage — “Me and Dad” will be understood but is flagged as informal by grammar guides and some readers ^{[3] [2]}.

Limitations and transparency: the sources assembled here explain English’s SVO pattern and standard subject/object usage ^{[1] [2]} and discuss register and inversion ^[3], but they do not offer a single, official governing body’s rule explicitly phrased as “always do X,” nor do they quantify how often speakers use one form versus another in everyday speech (available sources do not mention frequency data).