German Pronouns: A Comprehensive Guide

German pronouns are essential for constructing sentences and engaging in conversation. They stand in place of a noun and change according to their role in a sentence and the gender and number of the noun they refer to.

Subject Pronouns

These pronouns function as the subject of a sentence.

English	German
I	ich
you (singular, informal)	du
he	er
she	sie
it	es
we	wir
you (plural or formal)	ihr (pl.) / Sie (formal)
they	sie

E.g., Ich bin müde. – I am tired.

Accusative Pronouns

These are used as direct objects or after certain prepositions.

English	German
me	mich
you (singular, informal)	dich
him	ihn
her	sie
it	es
us	uns
you (plural or formal)	euch (pl.) / Sie (formal)
them	sie

E.g., Ich sehe dich. – I see you.

Dative Pronouns

These are used as indirect objects or after certain prepositions.

English	German
to me	mir
to you (singular, informal)	dir
to him	ihm
to her	ihr
to it	ihm/es
to us	uns
to you (plural or formal)	euch (pl.) / Ihnen (formal)
to them	ihnen

E.g., Ich gebe ihm das Buch. – I give him the book.

Genitive Pronouns

These show possession.

English	German
my	meiner
your (singular, informal)	deiner
his	seiner
her	ihrer
its	seiner
our	unserer
your (plural or formal)	eurer (pl.) / Ihrer (formal)
their	ihrer

E.g., Das ist das Haus meiner Großmutter. – That’s my grandmother’s house.

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and object of the verb are the same.

In the accusative and dative cases, they are:

English	German (Accusative)	German (Dative)
myself	mich	mir
yourself (singular, informal)	dich	dir
himself	sich	sich
herself	sich	sich
itself	sich	sich
ourselves	uns	uns
yourselves (plural)	euch	euch
themselves	sich	sich

E.g., Er wäscht sich. – He washes himself.

Demonstrative Pronouns

These are similar to “this” or “that” in English. They’re used to point out specific items. In German, they’re usually the same as the definite articles, but can carry emphasis in speech and context.

E.g., Dieser Apfel ist rot. – This apple is red.

Relative Pronouns

Used to introduce relative clauses and usually agree with the gender, number, and case of their antecedents.

E.g., Das ist der Mann, der ein Buch liest. – That’s the man who is reading a book.

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Tips:

1. Formal ‘You’: In German, ‘Sie’ (capitalized) is used as a formal ‘you’ for both singular and plural, regardless of the person’s gender or number.
2. Pronoun Agreement: Just like adjectives, pronouns must agree in gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) and number (singular, plural) with the noun they replace.
3. Learning with Context: It’s often helpful to learn pronouns in the context of whole sentences to understand their usage.

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