Personal Pronouns in German Grammar
- How to use personal pronouns in German
- Personal pronouns and cases in German grammar
- Online exercises to improve your German
- Lingolia Plus German
What are the German personal pronouns?
Personal Pronouns replace nouns that have already been mentioned. In German grammar, personal pronouns are declined depending on the case they are in (see below: table of personal pronouns in nominative accusative and dative). We use personal pronouns to talk about ourselves and to address other people.
Learn about personal pronouns in German grammar with Lingolia’s free online lesson, then test your knowledge in the interactive exercises.
singular | plural | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st pers. | 2nd pers. | 3rd person | 1st pers. | 2nd pers. | 3rd pers. | |||
nominative | ich | du | er | sie | es | wir | ihr | sie |
dative | mir | dir | ihm | ihr | ihm | uns | euch | ihnen |
accusative | mich | dich | ihn | sie | es | uns | euch | sie |
How to use personal pronouns in German
Personal pronouns have a different form for each grammatical person. They can reflect gender or number. We use personal pronouns in German grammar to express different things:
- We use personal pronouns in the 3rd person (er, sie, es) to replace a previously mentioned noun.
- Example:
- Ich habe eine Katze. Sie ist sehr niedlich.I have a cat. It is very cute.
- Example:
- Herr Schneider hatte einen Wellensittich. Er ist gestorben.Mr. Schneider had a budgerigar. He died.
(Who – the budgerigar or Herr Schneider?)
- We use pronouns in the 3rd person neuter (es) in impersonal forms.
- Example:
- Es regnet. Es ist schon spät.It’s raining. It’s getting late.
- We can also es as a placeholder for an entire clause that comes later in the sentence.
- Example:
- Es freut mich, dass du mich besuchst.It makes me happy that you’re visiting.
(instead of: Dass du mich besuchst, freut mich.Your visit makes me happy.)
- We use personal pronouns in the first person (ich, wir) to talk about ourselves in singualr (ich) or plural (wir).
- Example:
- Ich habe Hunger. Mir ist kalt.I am hungry. I am cold.
- Wir gehen ins Kino. Uns ist das egal.We are going to the cinema. We don’t care.
- We use personal pronouns in the 2nd person (du, ihr) or the polite form Sie (identical to the 3rd personal plural, except that the pronoun is written with a capital letter) to address other people,.
- Example:
- Wie heißt du? Wie geht es dir?What’s your name? How are you?
- Woher kommt ihr? Welche Musik gefällt euch?Where do you come from? What music do you like?
- Können Sie das bitte wiederholen? Kann ich Ihnen helfen?Can you please repeat that? Can I help you?
Personal pronouns and cases in German grammar
For information on using the cases, see Declension.