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Lesson 2: German Personal Pronouns
In this lesson we will talk
about German personal pronouns:
er~~~ ~ich~~~~
sie~~~~es~~~~du~~~~wi
They are equivalent and work in the same way as English pronouns:
he~~ ~ I~~
~ she~~\ ~ it~~
~ you ~~~~ ~we
It is important to remember that
German speakers make a much clearer distinction between the
formal, "you" (Sie) and the familiar, "you"
(du, ihr) in social situations. Other languages have
this informal and formal version of, "you", but
German speakers tend to be a lot more formal often using the
formal version of, "you" for years and only addresses
someone on a first name basis after a long period of knowing
that person.
This is a perfect example of how often language and culture
are intertwined and you should be aware of these when learning
German to prevent saying something inappropriate! Ooops!
Also, German has three different
forms of sie!
Often the only way to tell which one is meant is to notice
the verb ending and/or the context in which the pronoun is
used. Even the capitalized Sie (you, formal) is tricky
if it appears at the beginning of a sentence. Lower-case sie
can mean both "she" and "they": sie
ist (she is), sie sind (they are)
die deutschen
Pronomina
German Pronouns
e.g.
ich = I~~~~~~~~~~Darf
ich? = May I?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ich
bin 16 Jahre alt = I'm 16 years old
du = you (informal)~~Kommst
du mit? = Are you coming along?
er = he~~~~~~~~~~
Ist er da? = Is he here?
sie = she ~~~~~~~~~Ist
sie da? = Is she here?
es = it ~~~~~~~~~~~Hast
du es? = Do you have it?
Sie = you ~~~~~~~~~Kommen
Sie heute? = Are you coming today?
(The pronoun Sie always takes a plural conjugation,
but is also used for the formal "you" singular)
Wir = we ~~~~~~~~Wir
kommen am Dienstag = We're coming on Tuesday
Ihr = you, guys (informal) Habt ihr das Geld? =
Do you guys have the money?
sie = they ~~~~~~~~Sie
kommen heute = They're coming today.
(The pronoun sie in this sentence could also mean "you"
Sie. Only the context makes it clear which of the two is meant).
Sie = you Kommen Sie heute? = Are you [all] coming
today?
(The pronoun Sie always takes a plural conjugation, but is
also used for the formal "you" singular)
Happy studying!
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We hope you enjoyed your German Personal Pronouns lesson!
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