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German grammar · A1

German Personal Pronouns: Nominative, Accusative and Dative

Personal pronouns replace a noun once you both know what is being talked about. German has three sets of them, one for each of the cases you meet at A1, and the choice between du and Sie is a social decision as much as a grammatical one.

The three sets

The subject forms are ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie, Sie. As a direct object they become mich, dich, ihn, sie, es, uns, euch, sie, Sie. As an indirect object they become mir, dir, ihm, ihr, ihm, uns, euch, ihnen, Ihnen.

Notice that uns and euch are the same in both object cases, and that the masculine is again where the visible change happens: er → ihn → ihm.

Er and sie are not only for people

Because every German noun has a gender, the pronoun that replaces it follows that gender rather than whether it is alive. A table is der Tisch, so it is er. A lamp is die Lampe, so it is sie.

Wo ist der Schlüssel? — Er ist auf dem Tisch. Translating that as es because a key is an object is one of the most persistent English-speaker habits, and it is immediately noticeable to a listener.

Du or Sie

Du is for one person you know well — family, friends, children, fellow students. Ihr is its plural. Sie, always capitalised, is the polite form for people you do not know, in shops, offices and official situations, and it is the same word for one person or several.

In an exam, use Sie unless the task tells you the person is a friend. Being too formal reads as careful; being too informal with a stranger reads as an error.

Examples

• Woher kommst du?Where do you come from? (informal)
• Woher kommen Sie?Where do you come from? (formal)

Mistakes to avoid

Errors here are of two kinds: using es for an object whose German noun is masculine or feminine, and mixing the accusative and dative forms of the same pronoun.

• ✗ sie kommen (gemeint: du, formell)✓ Sie kommen
• ✗ Das Mädchen — sie ist nett.✓ Das Mädchen — es ist nett.
• ✗ Ich sehe ihm.✓ Ich sehe ihn.
• ✗ Er hilft mich.✓ Er hilft mir.

How this is tested in the exam

Sprechen is where the du/Sie choice is assessed most directly — the examiner is a stranger, so the formal form is expected unless the task sets up otherwise. In Schreiben, a message to a friend and a message to a landlord require different pronouns throughout, and mixing them inside one text is a register error rather than a slip.

Frequently asked questions

When do I use du and when Sie in German?

Du for one person you know well, ihr for several. Sie, always capitalised, for people you do not know and in official contexts, whether one person or many.

Why is a table called er in German?

Because der Tisch is masculine, and the pronoun follows the noun's grammatical gender rather than whether the thing is a person. A feminine noun is replaced by sie, a neuter one by es.

What is the difference between mir and mich?

Mich is the accusative, used for the direct object. Mir is the dative, used for the indirect object and after dative prepositions: Er sieht mich, but Er hilft mir.

Does sie mean she, they or you?

All three, distinguished by context and by the verb ending. Capitalised Sie is the formal you; lower-case sie is she with a singular verb and they with a plural one.