All About Personal Pronouns in German / Personalpronomen

In this lesson, you will learn everything about personal pronouns in German (Personalpronomen), which personal pronouns exist and what function they have in a sentence.

CONTENT

What is pronoun?
Nominative Personal Pronouns
THE FIRST PERSON SINGULAR: Ich (I)
THE SECOND PERSON SINGULAR: Du (you)
THE THIRD PERSON SINGULAR: Er/sie/es (he/she/it)
THE FIRST PERSON PLURAL: Wir (we)
Man
THE SECOND PERSON PLURAL: Ihr (you)
POLITE FORM Sie (You)
THE THIRD PERSON PLURAL Sie (they)
Accusative Personal Pronouns
Dative Personal Pronouns

What is pronoun?

A pronoun is a word which stands for a noun.

Instead of saying:

• John, you can say he – er
• Mia, you can say she – sie
• my husband and I, you can say we – wir
• the children, you can say they – sie

In English we say it instead of chair, lamp or car. In German everything is either masculine, feminine or neuter.

For example:

• der Stuhl – the chair is masculine so it is er – he
• die Lampe – the lamp is feminine so it is sie – she
• das Auto – the car is neuter so it is es – it.

Nominative Personal Pronouns

There are three personal pronouns in the singular and three in the plural. Ich, du, er, sie, es – I, you, he, she, it are subject pronouns. The subject is the person or thing who does the action.
For example:
I speak,
you buy,
he pays, she plays, it opens,
we travel,
you talk,
they walk.
The subject pronouns in German are as follows:

THE FIRST PERSON SINGULAR: Ich (I)

You use the first person when you are talking about yourself.

Ich lese. – I am reading.
Ich schlafe. – I am sleeping.
Ich bin. – I am.
Ich heiße Frau Mayer und ich lebe in London. – I am called Mrs Mayer and I live in London

Ich (I) is only written with a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence. After ich the verb ends in –e in the present tense. Sie (you formal) is always written with a capital letter.

THE SECOND PERSON SINGULAR: Du (you)

We use du when we are talking to someone we know very well, that can be a relative, close friend, a child or someone who has invited you to do so. There is a special verb in German for that– duzen, which means to call someone du.

For example:

Hast du einen Hund? – Have you got a dog?
Bist du traurig? – Are you sad?

After du the verb ends in –st in the present tense.

THE THIRD PERSON SINGULAR: Er/sie/es (he/she/it)

We use er/sie/es when we are talking about someone or something else. It translates: he, she and it. Remember that in German everything is either masculine, feminine or neuter.

the train is er (he),
the pharmacy is sie (she), and
the house is es (it).

For example:
der Zug – er
die Apotheke – sie
das Haus – es

After er/sie/es the verb ends in –t in the present tense.

THE FIRST PERSON PLURAL: Wir (we)

We use wir to talk about yourself and someone else. We use it when we would use we in English.

For example:
Wir fahren diesen Sommer nach Italien. – We are going to Italy this summer.
Mein Freund und ich spielen jeden Samstag Tennis. – My boyfriend and I play tennis every Saturday.

After wir the verb ends in –en in the present tense.

Man

Man (one) is often used in conversation instead of wir. It is followed by the third person singular of the verb (the he/she/it form). After man the verb usually ends in -t in the present tense. Man can be translated as one.

For example:
Man kann hier parken. – One/we can park here.
Man darf das nicht machen. One/we is/are not allowed to do that.

THE SECOND PERSON PLURAL: Ihr (you)

We use ihr to talk to a group of young people, relatives or friends. We only use this form when speaking to one, two or more people we know very well or children.

For example:
Kinder, kommt nach Hause! – Children, come home!
Wo seid ihr? – Where are you?
Geht ihr heute Abend ins Cafe? – Are you going to the cafe tonight?

After ihr the verb ends in –t.

POLITE FORM Sie (You)

This is the form of You we will in Germna need most . We use Sie when we are talking to someone else. It translates you. Sie is often referred to as the ‘polite’ form, as it is used not only in the plural but also when talking to someone older than you or to a stranger, even if there is only one person.
There is a special verb in German for that– Siezen, which means to call someone Sie.

After Sie the verb ends in –en in the present tense. Sie is written with a capital letter (in the singular and in the plural).

THE THIRD PERSON PLURAL Sie (they)

We use sie with a small letter, when you are talking about more than one person or thing. It translates they. You use sie to refer to two or more people.

For example:

Meine Kinder haben morgen einen Mathetest. Sie lernen den ganzen Tag. – My children have a math test tomorrow. They are studying all day.
Mia und Lukas leben zasammen. Sie heiraten bald. – Mia and Lukas live together. They are getting married soon.

After sie the verb ends in –en in the present tense.

Accusative Personal Pronouns

Me, you, him, her, it, us, them. These are called direct object pronouns. This is the person or object which has the action done to him/her/it.

For example:

I met Lukas/him yesterday. – Ich habe Lukas/ihn gestern getroffen.
Lukas called Mia/her last week. – Lukas hat letzte Woche Mia/her angerufen.
I bought the cellphone/it. – Ich habe das Handy/es gekauft.
I don’t like the boys/them. – Ich mag die Jungs/ihnen nicht.

An easy way to find the direct object pronoun is to ask the question.

For example:

Who did I ___? Who does he ___? (including the verb in the question) or what did I/he/she/we ___ do (including the verb in the question).

Er hat John/him getroffen. Wen hat er getroffen? IHN
He met John/him. Who does he meet? HIM (direct object pronoun)
Sie hat ein Parfüm/es gekauft. Was hat sie gekauft? ES
She bought a parfum /it. What did she buy? IT (direct object pronoun)
Ich mag Sylvia/ sie. Wen mag ich? SIE
I like Sylvia/ her. Who do I like? HER (direct object pronoun)

Any noun can be replaced by a pronoun. Personal pronouns can refer to living beings, objects or facts. Each pronoun can appear not only in the nominative, but also in other cases. For example, a personal pronoun that replaces an object in the accusative must itself be in the accusative. Answers the question Wen?

Click on:
Grammar Contetns

The third person singular pronouns have distinct forms for each gender, i.e. masculine er, feminine sie and neuter es. Since they take their gender from the noun they refer to, this means that er, sie or es can all correspond to English it when referring to things:

Der Kuli? Ach, er hat vorhin auf dem Tisch gelegen,aber ich muss ihn jetzt verloren haben. – The pencil? Oh, it was lying on the table just now, but I must have lost it.
Er hörte meine Meinung und stimmte ihr zu. – He heard my opinion and agreed with it.

Darf ich Ihr Buch noch eine Woche behalten? Ich habe es noch nicht gelesen. – May I keep your book another week? I haven’t read it yet

Sie, sie oder sie

There are four pronouns called sie. Two are written with a capital letter Sie (formal singular) and Sie (formal plural). The other two are sie – her and sie – them. You sometimes won’t know who is meant by sie: it can mean: they, she or you, but don’t worry. You will be able to work it out from the context.

Dative Personal Pronouns (indirect object)

Mir – to me, ihm – to him, ihr – to her. These are called indirect object pronouns. In English, an indirect object pronoun is the same as a direct object pronoun but has (or can have) to or for in front of it.

I bought to her it. I bought it. (direct object – it is the thing that you bought) for her (indirect object).
Give me it. Give it. (direct object – the thing which is being given to me (indirect object).
They showed him it. They showed it (direct object – the thing which is being shown) to him (indirect object).

Indirect pronouns are used with verbs like: give, send, write, show, buy, offer, tell, lend, etc. where you do something to or for someone/something.

The indirect object is replaced by the indirect object pronoun.

For example:
I help my father in the garden. – Ich helfe meinem Vater im Garten.
I show her (my girlfriend) my house. – Ich zeige ihr (meiner Freundin) my house.
I am giving the flowers to my girlfriend. – Ich gebe ihr die Blumen.
I am sending you an e-mail. – Ich schicke dir eine E-Mail.
She is sending her a text message. Sie schickt ihm eine SMS.

Note: ihm means (to) him and (to) it.

In German indirect pronouns are used with verbs like:

geben – to give, schicken – to send, schreiben – to write, zeigen – to show, kaufen – to buy, anbieten – to offer, sagen – to tell, leihen – to lend, etc. where you do something to/for someone/something.

Dative personal pronouns replace the noun that is actually used in the sentence as a dative object, when a specific preposition or verb requires a dative object behind it.

Personal pronouns in the dative case signal belonging and possession, but also feelings – always depending on the specific verbs that require such a dative case. As with all dative objects, in German we also look for dative personal pronouns with the question Wem?

For example:

Sie schenken mir ein Handy. – They give me a cell phone.
Ich zeige dir das Haus. – I’ll show you the house. Sie hat ihm einen neuen Anzug gekauft. – She bought him a new suit.
Ich habe ihr gratuliert. – I congratulated her.
Das Haus gehört uns. – The house is ours.
Er hilft euch. – He is helping you. Ihr Sohn fehlt ihnen. – They miss their son.
Ich danke Ihnen.- Thank you.

Typical phrases with personal pronouns in the dative case:

Wie geht es Ihnen? – How are you?
Es geht mir gut. – I’m fine.
Der Mantel passt dir gut. – Your coat fits you well.
Das Kleid steht ihr perfekt. – The dress fits her perfectly.
Die Pizza schmeckt uns nicht. – We don’t like the pizza.
Die Stadt gefällt mir. – I like the city.
Ist Ihnen kalt? – Are you cold?
Mein Kopf tut mir höllisch weh. – My head hurts like hell. 
Mir wird übel, wenn ich Blut sehe. – I get sick when I see blood.

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