Personal Pronouns in German

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The personal pronouns are the basis to form sentences, which is why they are one of the first things we learn in German! This article will remind you what they are and explain how to use them and how they are formed in the nominative, accusative, and dative cases. 

We’ll also discuss the pronoun “man” and end with a short set of exercises to practice the personal pronouns. Let’s go! 

What Are Personal Pronouns?

See the table below:

Nominative

ich	I
du	You (sg)
er	He
sie	She
es	It
wir	We
ihr	You (pl)
sie Sie	they you (formal)

Accusative

mich	me
dich	you
ihn	him
sie	her
es	it
uns	us
euch	you
sie Sie	them you (formal)

Dative

mir	me, to me
dir	you, to you
ihm	him,to him
ihr	her, to her
ihm	it, to it
uns	us, to us
euch	you, to you
ihnen Ihnen	to them to you (formal)

The formal you “Sie” is always capitalized. We form the third person singular with “er” (he), “sie” (she) and “es” (it) in the nominative, “ihn”, “sie” and “es” in the accusative, and “ihm”, “ihr”, and “ihm” again in the dative. As you know, only the masculine form changes in the accusative.

Case after a preposition

Ohne dich fahre ich nicht. — I am not going without you.
Mit dir macht das Lernen Spaß. — Learning is fun with you.

Ohne takes accusative, so use dich. Mit takes dative, so use dir.

What is man?

Man refers generally to people or an unspecified person. English may use “one”, “you”, “people” or a passive construction, depending on context. It is written lowercase and takes a third-person singular verb: Man kauft manchmal zu viel. — People sometimes buy too much. / Kann man hier rauchen? — Is smoking allowed here?

Man itself is nominative. Its corresponding object forms are einen in accusative and einem in dative; it has no genitive form. A subordinate clause does not change the subject into einer. Repeating man is normal when the same general subject is intended:

• Man kauft manchmal Dinge, die zu teuer sind, weil man nicht auf den Preis achtet. — People sometimes buy things that are too expensive because they do not pay attention to the price.
• Wenn man etwas nicht versteht, kann einem ein Beispiel helfen. — If you do not understand something, an example can help you.
• Das macht einen nachdenklich. — That makes you thoughtful.

In the second example, man is the subject of versteht; ein Beispiel is the subject of helfen; einem is dative because helfen takes dative. Do not confuse the pronoun man with the noun der Mann (the man).

Personal Pronouns Can Reflect Number or Gender 

In the third person, we use personal pronouns (er, sie, es) to replace a noun that was mentioned earlier.

Example:

Ich habe einen Hund. Er ist sehr klein.

You should always make it clear which noun is being replaced to avoid misunderstandings. Just repeat the noun in case of doubt.

Example:

Mein Nachbar hatte einen Hund. Er ist weg. 

Here, the dog is probably meant, but we can’t be 100% sure who disappeared (the neighbor or his dog), can we? 

In impersonal forms, we use pronouns in the third person neuter (es), just like in English.

Example:

Es schneit. Es ist zu früh.

It is snowing. It is too early.

Es can be used as a placeholder for a whole clause. 

Example:

Es freut mich, dass sie wieder kommen. 

In German, we use personal pronouns in the first person to say something about ourselves. The singular nominative is ich, accusative mich, dative mir. The plural nominative is wir, accusative and dative uns.

Examples:

Wir haben Durst. 

Uns ist heiß. 

Ich gehe ins Kino. 

Mir ist das egal.

To address other people, we use personal pronouns in the second person (du, ihr) or the formal Sie, always written with a capital letter.

Example:

Wie heißen Sie? Wie geht es Ihnen?

Woher kommst du? Welche Filme gefallen dir?

Könnt ihr bitte kommen? Darf ich euch helfen?

When do We use Pronouns in the Nominative?

The basic pronoun form is the nominative case. This is the subject of a sentence. We ask who or what is in a state or performing an action to find the subject (Wer/Was).

Example

Die Frau hat einen Freund. Sie ist in ihn verliebt.	The woman has a boyfriend. She is in love with him.
Mein Kollege hat ein Geschenk bekommen. Er mag es sehr.	My coworker got a present. He likes it a lot.

In the nominative case, personal pronouns replace a known or previously mentioned noun. “Sie” replaces “die Frau.” “Er” replaces “mein Kollege.”

The accusative case or direct object comes after specific prepositions and verbs. We use it for the person or thing receiving the action. In the above example, “ihn” replaces “einen Freund” and “es” replaces “das Geschenk.” To find out what or who is receiving the action, we ask “wen” or “was”.

Examples: 

In wen ist sie verliebt?	Who is she in love with?
Was hat er bekommen?	What did he get?
Bastian sucht seine Schuhe. Ohne sie kann er das Haus nicht verlassen.	Bastian is looking for his shoes. He can’t leave the house without them (on).

In the first sentence, Bastian is the subject and seine Schuhe the accusative object. In the second, er is the subject, das Haus the direct object and sie is accusative inside the prepositional phrase ohne sie.

When do We use Pronouns in the Accusative?

We use pronouns in the accusative after verbs like “suchen” and after the prepositions ohne, durch, gegen, um, für, etc.  

Example:

Seine Mutter hat sie ihm weggenommen.

His mother took them away from him.

When both objects are unstressed personal pronouns, the accusative normally precedes the dative: sie ihm. With two ordinary noun phrases, the neutral order is often dative before accusative. Emphasis can change these patterns.

When do We use Pronouns in the Dative?

Dative can mark a recipient, but it is also required by particular verbs and prepositions. It is used with specific verbs like begegnen, helfen, schmecken, antworten, danken, zuhören, and certain prepositions like mit, von, nach, zu, etc. In English, pronouns like “me” and “them” and prepositions like “to” and “for” indicate the indirect object. To ask who or what the indirect recipient of the action was, we use wem (“to whom?”). For prepositional phrases, keep the preposition: mit wem? — with whom?. 

Example

Ich habe Tom seine Speise gegeben, aber sie schmeckt ihm nicht.	I gave Tom his meal, but it doesn‘t taste good to him.
Das sind meine Eltern. Ich habe ihnen geholfen.	Those are my parents. I helped them.
Das sind meine Freunde. Leider kann ich mit ihnen nicht kommen.	Those are my friends. Unfortunately, I can‘t come with them.

Personal pronouns do have genitive forms, such as meiner, deiner, seiner, ihrer. They occur mainly in formal or literary constructions, for example Wir gedenken ihrer — We remember them. They are less common than the nominative, accusative and dative forms taught here and should not be confused with possessive articles such as mein. 

Rule Recap

We form the third person singular with “er” (he), “sie” (she) and “es” (it) in the nominative, “ihn”, “sie” and “es” in the accusative, and “ihm”, “ihr”, and “ihm” again in the dative. Only the masculine form changes in the accusative.

We use the pronoun “man” when we don’t know who performs a given action or is in a given state or if it is not important. 

In the third person, we use personal pronouns (er, sie, es) to replace a noun that was mentioned earlier.

In impersonal forms, we use pronouns in the third person neuter (es), just like in English.

We use personal pronouns in the first person to say something about ourselves. The singular nominative is “ich”, accusative “mich”, dative “mir”. The plural nominative is “wir”, accusative and dative “uns”.

To address other people, we use personal pronouns in the second person (du, ihr) or the formal Sie, always written with a capital letter. 

The basic pronoun form is the nominative case. This is the subject of a sentence.

Accusative is commonly used for a direct object and is required by certain verbs and prepositions.

Dative can mark a recipient, but it is also required by particular verbs and prepositions.

Practice the forms

Replace the pronoun in brackets with the correct nominative, accusative or dative form.

1. Was haben ___ gemacht? (sie, plural)
2. Die Nachbarn haben ___ geholfen. (ich)
3. Der Mann hat ___ etwas gefragt. (du)
4. Wo hast du ___ kennengelernt? (er)
5. Kann ich mit ___ zum Supermarkt fahren? (ihr)

Check the answers

1 sie; 2 mir; 3 dich; 4 ihn; 5 euch.

Multiple choice

1. ___ esse gern Schokolade. (a Ich / b Du / c Sie)
2. Hat ___ der Film gefallen? (a du / b dir / c dich)
3. ___ versteht ___ doch, oder? (a Ihr, ich / b Sie, dich / c Er, er)
4. Kann er ___ von der Schule abholen? (a ich / b dir / c mich)

Check the choices

1 a: Ich; 2 b: dir (gefallen takes dative); 3 b: Sie, dich; 4 c: mich (abholen takes an accusative object).

Replace noun phrases

1. Der Chef dankt der Mitarbeiterin.
2. Das Kind zählt die Äpfel.
3. Die Touristen hören dem Reiseleiter zu.
4. Die Lehrerin erklärt dem Schüler den Dativ.
5. Der Junge lernt das Gedicht.

Check sample answers

1. Er dankt ihr.
2. Es zählt sie.
3. Sie hören ihm zu.
4. Sie erklärt ihn ihm.
5. Er lernt es.

Learn each pronoun together with its case and the governing verb or preposition. If the reference is unclear, repeating the noun is often the clearest choice.

Grammatical gender and verb agreement

Pronouns referring to objects follow the noun’s grammatical gender: der Tisch → er; die Tasche → sie; das Buch → es. This need not match English “it”. Sie, Ihnen and formal possessive Ihr are capitalized. Formal Sie addresses one or several people and takes the same verb form as plural sie: Sie kommen. Context distinguishes “she” (sie kommt), “they” (sie kommen) and formal “you” (Sie kommen).