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A1Word classes

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns replace nouns and indicate the person.

Take a look

Ich bin Student.

I am a student.

Take a look

  • Ich bin Student.I am a student.
  • Du lernst Deutsch.You are learning German.
  • Er kommt aus Spanien.He comes from Spain.
  • Wir gehen ins Kino.We are going to the cinema.
  • Können Sie mir helfen?Can you help me?

The rule

Personal pronouns replace nouns and indicate the person. German has: ich, du, er/sie/es (singular) and wir, ihr, sie/Sie (plural). The polite form 'Sie' is always capitalized. The pronouns change depending on case (nominative, accusative, dative). Die Personalpronomen im Nominativ sind: ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie, Sie. 'du' and 'ihr' are informal (friends, family), 'Sie' is formal (strangers, professional contexts). 'er' stands for masculine nouns, 'sie' for feminine, 'es' for neuter. The polite form 'Sie' is always capitalized – even in the middle of a sentence. 'sie' (lowercase) can mean 'she' (singular, feminine) or 'they' (plural) – context shows which.

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The forms

Personal pronouns in three cases

NominativAkkusativDativ
ichmichmir
dudichdir
erihnihm
siesieihr
esesihm
wirunsuns
ihreucheuch
sie / Siesie / Sieihnen / Ihnen

Quick check

A1
  1. Insert the correct pronoun.___ heißt Maria. (3rd person singular, feminine)
  2. Choose the correct pronoun.___ sind Studenten.
  3. Insert the correct pronoun.Der Tisch ist alt. ___ ist aus Holz.
  4. Which form of address is formal?Wie fragt man höflich einen Fremden?
  5. Correct the mistake.Das Buch ist neu. Sie ist interessant.
  6. Insert the correct pronoun.Anna und Tom kochen. ___ kochen gern.

The answers appear after “Check”.

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