Personal Pronouns — German Grammar

Personal pronouns are words used to replace nouns, such as "I", "you", "he", or "they". In this language, pronouns change their form (decline) depending on their grammatical function in the sentence (Case) and who is being addressed (Formality).

Subject Pronouns (Nominative)

The nominative case is used for the subject of the sentence—the person or thing performing the action.

(I)
(you - informal, singular)
(he)
(she)
(it)
(we)
(you - informal, plural)
(they)
(you - formal)

Ich lerne Deutsch.
I am learning German.
Wir gehen nach Hause.
We are going home.

Addressing Others: Du, Ihr, and Sie

Unlike English, which uses "you" for everyone, there are distinct forms based on familiarity and number.

Informal (Du and Ihr): Use these with family, friends, children, and pets.

: Used when speaking to one person you know well.
: Used when speaking to multiple people you know well (like a plural "you guys").

Hast du Hunger?
Are you hungry?
Was macht ihr heute?
What are you (guys) doing today?

Formal (Sie)

: Used with strangers, authority figures, or in business settings. It is grammatically identical to "they" (), but the first letter is always capitalized in writing. It is used for both one person or multiple people in formal situations.

Können Sie mir helfen?
Can you help me?

Direct Objects (Accusative)

When the pronoun is the direct receiver of an action (e.g., "He sees me"), it must be in the accusative case. Note that , , and do not change form here, but the masculine changes to .

me:
you (informal):
him:
her:
it:
us:
you (pl. informal):
them:
you (formal):

Er liebt dich.
He loves you.
Ich sehe ihn nicht.
I do not see him.
Wir besuchen euch morgen.
We are visiting you tomorrow.

Indirect Objects (Dative)

The dative case is generally used for the indirect object—the person to whom or for whom something is done (e.g., "Give the book to me"). It is also required after certain prepositions and verbs.

to me:
to you (informal):
to him/it:
to her:
to us:
to you (pl. informal):
to them:
to you (formal):

Kannst du mir das geben?
Can you give that to me?
Das Buch gehört ihm.
The book belongs to him.
Wie geht es Ihnen?
How are you? (lit: How goes it to you?)

Pronouns and Grammatical Gender

In English, "he" and "she" are used mostly for people and animals, while "it" is for objects. In this language, the pronoun must match the grammatical gender of the noun it replaces, even if it is an inanimate object.

Masculine nouns () are replaced by .
Feminine nouns () are replaced by .
Neuter nouns () are replaced by .

Wo ist der Stuhl? Er ist hier.
Where is the chair? It is here.
Ich habe eine Katze. Sie ist schwarz.
I have a cat. It (she) is black.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s German course

377 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 1. A few of them, with the words “Personal Pronouns” is about in bold:

Das ist meine Freundin, Anna. Sie ist eine Studentin.
This is my friend, Anna. She is a student.
Lesson 2
Er schläft auch. Sie schläft nicht.
He is also sleeping. She isn't.
Lesson 16
Ich liebe sie und sie lieben mich.
I love them and they love me.
Lesson 32

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