Using PERSONAL PRONOUNS — words that replace people and things (like ‘he’ replaces ‘the boy’) — is one of the ways to start sounding a lot more authentic when speaking German.

A personal pronoun is a word that is associated with a person or a noun that it refers back to. Unless they are at the beginning of a sentence, all personal pronouns except for “Sie” (formal you) are lowercase. “Sie” (formal you) is always capitalized, regardless of where it appears in the sentence. In German, personal pronouns change depending on case, gender or number (singular, plural). Personal pronouns are split into three “voices”: 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-person (both singular and plural).

•First-person is when the subject and speaker are identical

•Second-person is when the speaker addresses another person

•Third-person is used when talking about someone else who is absent or not involved in the conversation

Below are the personal pronouns in German in the nominative case. The subject of a sentence is always in the nominative.

Examples:
Ich heisse Robin. (I am called Robin.)
Er spielt Fussball. (He plays soccer.)

When a person or a noun represented by a pronoun are the direct object of the sentence, they are in the accusative case. Below are the personal pronouns in the accusative.

Examples:
Ich sehe ihn. (I see him.)
Er hört uns. (He calls us.)

When a person or a noun represented by a pronoun are the indirect object of the sentence, they are in the dative case. Below are the personal pronouns in the dative and accusative side by side.

Examples:
Ich gebe ihm ein Geschenk. (I give him a present.)
Wir geben dir ein Buch. (We give you a book.)

Related Articles