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Subject pronouns include ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr and sie. They are in the nominative case: ‘Anna kommt. Sie arbeitet noch’.
PRONOUNS · A1–A2
Personalpronomen: Swap names for the right pronouns.
Learn ich, du, er, sie and es, then see how the same people become mich, dich, mir or dir in a sentence.
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THE SHORT VERSION
Personalpronomen, made clear.
Start with these three ideas. Then test them in real German sentences.
Who receives the action?
An accusative object changes the form: ich → mich, du → dich, er → ihn. In ‘Ich sehe Paul. Ich sehe ihn’, ‘ihn’ replaces Paul.
To whom?
A dative object has another form: ich → mir, du → dir, er → ihm, sie → ihr. ‘Ich gebe dir das Buch’ means ‘I give you the book’.
SEE THE DIFFERENCE
Du siehst mich. → ‘Mich’ is the accusative form of ich.
Du hilfst mir. → ‘Mir’ is the dative form of ich.
The verb decides the case: sehen takes an accusative object; helfen takes a dative object.A CLOSER LOOK
One person, three useful forms
Pronouns change according to their role. The same person can be a subject, a direct object, or a recipient.
Core pronoun map
| Person | Subject (nominative) | Direct object (accusative) | Recipient (dative) |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | ich | mich | mir |
| you (informal singular) | du | dich | dir |
| he | er | ihn | ihm |
| she | sie | sie | ihr |
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Use the verb as a clue
“Ich sehe ihn” uses accusative because sehen takes a direct object. “Ich helfe ihm” uses dative because helfen takes a dative object. “Ich gebe ihm das Buch” has a dative recipient and an accusative thing.
Try this: The words sie, Sie and ihr can have different meanings in other contexts; check the whole sentence.
For a fuller reference, see the Goethe-Institut German grammar overview ↗.
YOUR PERSONALPRONOMEN CHALLENGE
Six sentences.
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LEVEL 10 / 6 correct first try
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Personalpronomen, without the confusion.
What are personal pronouns?
They are words such as ich, du, er, sie and wir that refer to people or things without repeating their names.
What is the difference between mich and mir?
‘Mich’ is accusative and ‘mir’ is dative. Compare ‘Du siehst mich’ with ‘Du hilfst mir’.
Why does Sie sometimes have a capital letter?
Capital ‘Sie’ is the formal form of address in German; lowercase ‘sie’ can mean ‘she’ or ‘they’.