wordmark

German - Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun (er for der Mann, sie for die Frau). In German, pronouns must change their form to reflect their case—that is, their grammatical job in the sentence.

Personal Pronouns

These are the most common pronouns, representing the people or things involved in the action. They change for each of the four cases.

Nominative Case (The Subject)

This is the "who" or "what" is doing the action. It's the basic form of the pronoun.

  • ich - I
  • du - you (singular, informal)
  • er - he, it (replaces a masculine noun)
  • sie - she, it (replaces a feminine noun)
  • es - it (replaces a neuter noun)
  • wir - we
  • ihr - you (plural, informal)
  • sie - they
  • Sie - you (formal, singular or plural - always capitalized)

Example: Ich lerne Deutsch. (I am learning German.)

Accusative Case (The Direct Object)

This is the pronoun that directly receives the action. It answers the question "whom?" or "what?".

  • mich - me
  • dich - you
  • ihn - him, it
  • sie - her, it (no change)
  • es - it (no change)
  • uns - us
  • euch - you all
  • sie - them (no change)
  • Sie - you (formal, no change)

Example: Er sieht mich. (He sees me.)

Dative Case (The Indirect Object)

This is the pronoun that indirectly receives the action, often translated with "to" or "for." It answers the question "to whom?".

  • mir - (to) me
  • dir - (to) you
  • ihm - (to) him, it
  • ihr - (to) her, it
  • ihm - (to) it
  • uns - (to) us
  • euch - (to) you all
  • ihnen - (to) them
  • Ihnen - (to) you (formal)

Example: Sie gibt mir das Buch. (She gives the book to me.)

Pronoun Word Order

When you have two pronouns in a sentence, there's a rule for their order: Accusative comes before Dative.

  • Sie gibt es mir. (She gives it to me.)

Possessive Pronouns

These show ownership (my, your, his, her, etc.). In German, they act like ein and must take endings that agree with the gender and case of the noun they are describing.

The Base Forms:

  • mein - my
  • dein - your (informal)
  • sein - his, its
  • ihr - her, their
  • unser - our
  • euer - your (plural informal)
  • Ihr - your (formal)

How they take endings:

  • Das ist mein Hund. (masculine, nominative)
  • Das ist meine Katze. (feminine, nominative)
  • Ich sehe meinen Hund. (masculine, accusative)
  • Ich gebe meiner Katze Futter. (feminine, dative)

Reflexive Pronouns

These are used with reflexive verbs, where the subject and the object are the same person (e.g., I wash myself). They change for the Accusative and Dative cases.

Accusative (when the action is done directly to oneself):

  • mich - myself
  • dich - yourself
  • sich - himself, herself, itself, themselves, yourself (formal)
  • uns - ourselves
  • euch - yourselves

Example: Ich wasche mich. (I wash myself.)

Dative (when the action is done for oneself, often involving a body part): The Dative is only different in the first and second person singular (ich and du).

  • mir - (for) myself
  • dir- (for) yourself
  • sich, uns, euch - (same as accusative)

Example: Ich wasche mir die Hände. (I wash my hands. Literally: "I wash for myself the hands.")

Relative Pronouns

These pronouns introduce a relative clause, a part of a sentence that gives more information about a noun. The relative pronoun you choose must match the gender and number of the noun it's describing, and it must be in the correct case for its role within the relative clause.

The forms of the relative pronouns are almost identical to the definite articles (der, die, das).

Example:

  • Das ist der Mann, der hier wohnt. (That is the man who lives here.)
    • der is used because Mann is masculine and is the subject (Nominative) of the verb wohnt.
  • Das ist der Mann, den ich kenne. (That is the man whom I know.)
    • den is used because Mann is masculine and is the direct object (Accusative) of the verb kenne.

Interrogative Pronouns (Question Words)

These are words that ask questions. The two main ones for people also change according to case.

  • Wer? - Who? (Nominative)

    • Wer ist das? (Who is that?)

  • Wen? - Whom? (Accusative)

    • Wen siehst du? (Whom do you see?)

  • Wem? - To whom? (Dative)

    • Wem gibst du das Buch? (To whom are you giving the book?)

  • Was? - What? (Nominative and Accusative)

    • Was ist das? (What is that?)
    • Was machst du? (What are you doing?)