German pronouns are used in the same way they are in English: to identify the subject or object in a clause. They can be divided into many groups: personal, possessive, reflexive, demonstrative, relative, interrogative, and indefinite. All of these are declined, are modified according to gender, and abide by the singular or plural nature of the subject(s) or object(s).
Contents
Personal Pronouns
German personal pronouns assume all the forms existent in English, with the addition of the singular formal you “Sie”, the plural formal you “Sie”, and the informal plural you “ihr”. One could argue that in certain regions of the English speaking world, the plural you is translatable as “y’all”, or “you all”.
Before getting to examples, I’ll post the following table, which you should consistently consult while you’re learning and practicing with using personal pronouns.
Personal Pronoun Declension Table
Singular
Nominative | Accusative | Dative | |||
ich | I | mich | me | mir | me |
du | you (informal) | dich | you | dir | you |
er | he / it | ihn | him / it | ihm | him / it |
sie | she / it | sie | her / it | ihr | her / it |
es | it | es | it | ihm | it |
Sie | you (formal) | Sie | you (formal) | Ihnen | you (formal) |
Plural
Nominative | Accusative | Dative | |||
wir | we | uns | us | uns | us |
ihr | you all (informal) | euch | you all (informal) | euch | you all (informal) |
sie | they | sie | them | ihnen | them |
Sie | you all (formal) | Sie | you all (informal) | Ihnen | you all (formal) |
Examples
In declining the personal pronouns, it is thus essential to identify both gender and number. Here are a few examples of nouns in the nominative singular form, and how they would be declined.
Der Arzt (the male doctor)
If you use the third person formulation, you would use the masculine form, “er/ihn/ihm”
- Ich mag meinen Arzt. Er ist sehr intelligent. (I like my doctor. He is very intelligent.)
- Magst du ihn auch? (Do you like him as well?)
- Ja, ich vertraue ihm. (Yes, I trust him.)
If you use the second person formulation, you would use the formal “Sie/Sie/Ihnen”, since with a doctor, one generally has a formal relationship
- Wissen Sie, ob eine weitere Impfung notwendig ist? (Do you know if a further immunization is necessary?)
- Wie kann ich Sie am besten kontaktieren? (How can I best contact you?
- Soll ich Ihnen die Bilder per E-Mail senden? (Should I send you the pictures by email?)
Die Katzen (the female cats)
If you use the third person formulation, you would use the plural “sie/sie/ihnen “
- Ich habe drei Katzen, und habe ihnen Namen von Disney Filmen gegeben. (I have three cats, and I gave them names from Disney movies.)
- Sie heißen Tinkerbell, Elsa und Kylo Ren. (They are called Tinkerbell, Elsa, and Kylo Ren.)
- Ich füttere sie mit Hundefutter. (I feed them dog food.)
If you use the second person formulation, you would use the plural informal “ihr/euch/euch”
- Ihr weißt, dass ich euch liebe! (You all know that I love you!)
- Gefällt euch das Hundefutter, das ich euch gebe? (Do you all like the dog food that I give you?)
Das Boot (the boat)
If you use the third person formulation, you would use the neuter “es/es/ihm”
- Das Boot ist enorm! Hast du es gesehen? (The boat is massive! Have you seen it?)
- Ja, es ist tatsächlich groß. (Yes, it is indeed large.)
- Hinter ihm ist der Himmel wunderschön! (Behind it, the sky is gorgeous!)
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns, or possessives, are used to indicate possession. For example, “my dog” is “mein Hund”. The following table indicates the usage. Note that the declension is based upon the object and not the subject, or in other words, the think that is being possessed, and not the thing that is doing the possessing.
Possessive Pronoun Declension Table
Masculine
Singular
Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive | ||||
mein | my | meinen | my | meinem | my | meines | my |
dein | your | deinen | your | deinem | your | deines | your |
sein | his | seinen | his | seinem | his | seines | his |
ihr | her | ihren | her | ihrem | her | ihres | her |
sein | its | seinen | its | seinem | its | seines | its |
Ihr | your (formal) | Ihren | your (formal) | Ihrem | your (formal) | Ihres | your (formal) |
Plural
Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive | ||||
unser | our | unseren | our | unserem | our | unseres | our |
euer | y’all’s (informal) | euren | y’all’s (informal) | eurem | y’all’s (informal) | eures | y’all’s (informal) |
ihr | their | ihren | their | ihrem | their | ihres | their |
Ihr | y’all’s (formal) | Ihren | y’all’s (formal) | Ihrem | y’all’s (formal) | Ihres | y’all’s (formal) |
Feminine
Singular
Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive | ||||
meine | my | meine | my | meiner | my | meiner | my |
deine | your | deine | your | deiner | your | deiner | your |
seine | his | seine | his | seiner | his | seiner | his |
ihre | her | ihre | her | ihrer | her | ihrer | her |
seine | its | seine | its | seiner | its | seiner | its |
Ihre | your (formal) | Ihre | your (formal) | Ihrer | your (formal) | Ihrer | your (formal) |
Plural
Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive | ||||
unsere | our | unsere | our | unserer | our | unserer | our |
eure | y’all’s (informal) | eure | y’all’s (informal) | eurer | y’all’s (informal) | eurer | y’all’s (informal) |
ihre | their | ihre | their | ihrer | their | ihrer | their |
Ihre | y’all’s (formal) | Ihre | y’all’s (formal) | Ihrer | y’all’s (formal) | Ihrer | y’all’s (formal) |
Neuter
Singular
Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive | ||||
mein | my | mein | my | meinem | my | meines | my |
dein | your | dein | your | deinem | your | deines | your |
sein | his | sein | his | seinem | his | seines | his |
ihr | her | ihr | her | ihrem | her | ihres | her |
sein | its | sein | its | seinem | its | seines | its |
Ihr | your (formal) | Ihr | your (formal) | Ihrem | your (formal) | Ihres | your (formal) |
Plural
Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive | ||||
unser | our | unser | our | unserem | our | unseres | our |
euer | y’all’s (informal) | euer | y’all’s (informal) | eurem | y’all’s (informal) | eures | y’all’s (informal) |
ihr | their | ihr | their | ihrem | their | ihres | their |
Ihr | y’all’s (formal) | Ihr | y’all’s (formal) | Ihrem | y’all’s (formal) | Ihres | y’all’s (formal) |
Plural
Singular
Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive | ||||
meine | my | meine | my | meinen | my | meiner | my |
deine | your | deine | your | deinen | your | deiner | your |
seine | his | seine | his | seinen | his | seiner | his |
ihre | her | ihre | her | ihren | her | ihrer | her |
seine | its | seine | its | seinen | its | seiner | its |
Ihre | your (formal) | Ihre | your (formal) | Ihren | your (formal) | Ihrer | your (formal) |
Plural
Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive | ||||
unsere | our | unsere | our | unseren | our | unserer | our |
eure | y’all’s (informal) | eure | y’all’s (informal) | euren | y’all’s (informal) | eurer | y’all’s (informal) |
ihre | their | ihre | their | ihren | their | ihrer | their |
Ihre | y’all’s (formal) | Ihre | y’all’s (formal) | Ihren | y’all’s (formal) | Ihrer | y’all’s (formal) |
Please note that when “euer” has a suffix, like the feminine “eure”, the “e” before the “r” is removed (it is NOT “euere”).
Examples
(1). Habe ich schon die Frau deines Vaters kennengelernt? (Have I already met the wife of your father?)
The “deines” is the genitive form of the “you” possessive pronoun. Note that the genitive can also be translated with an “of” before the possessive
(2). Ihr Vater gab seiner Frau Blumen. (??? father gave his mother flowers.)
Here is a good example of “Ihr” leading to potential confusion. When at the beginning of a sentence, “Ihr” will always be capitalized, so it could imply that the possessor is “you” (formal), “you all” (informal), “they”, or “you all” (formal). Thus, the context is important. The “seiner” later in the sentence is formed as a result of the father being a male (“sein” is the stem) and the mother being a female in dative (“-er” is the addition to the “sein” stem)
(3). Willst du meinen Hund, mein Schwein, meine Katze, oder meine Papageien sehen? (Do you want to see my dog, my pig, my cat, or my parrots?)
In this example, the accusative form of the “mein” (my) stem is used for each gender: der Hund (masculine), das Schwein (neuter), die Katze (feminine), and die Papageien (plural)
Reflexive Pronouns
German reflexive pronouns take only two cases (accusative and dative) and are used in conjunction with verbs. In English, reflexive pronouns can be illustrated by the “myself” after verbs, like “I ask myself every morning why I don’t switch my job,” but cases like this in English are seemingly rare. In German, there are many situations in which reflexive verbs require a reflexive pronoun, and some situations in which a reflexive pronoun is optional.
The table below illustrates how these reflexive pronouns are used:
Reflexive Pronoun Declension Table
Singular
Accusative | Dative | ||
mich | myself | mir | myself |
dich | yourself | dir | yourself |
sich | himself | sich | himself |
sich | herself | sich | herself |
sich | itself | sich | itself |
sich | yourself (formal) | sich | yourself (formal) |
Plural
Accusative | Dative | ||
uns | ourselves | uns | ourselves |
euch | yourselves (plural) (informal) | euch | yourselves (plural) (informal) |
sich | themselves | sich | themselves |
sich | yourselves (plural) (formal) | sich | yourselves (plural) (formal) |
Note that the “sich” plural forms are not capitalized, unlike other forms like “Ihr” and “Sie”.
Examples
1. Ich frage mich, warum er so denkt. (I wonder why he thinks that.)
2. Hast du dir diese Idee schon überlegt? (Have you considered that idea?)
3. Wir haben uns gestern im Prater getroffen. (We met up yesterday at Prater.)
4. Bemüht euch, immer! (Always make an effort!)
5. Sie haben sich Urlaub verdient. (You have earned a vacation.)
Here is a list of reflexive verbs considered most critical for the beginning levels due to their high frequency and relevance. There are thousands more that exist. They are divided by accusative (first) and dative (last).
Frequency Table of Reflexive Verbs
Accusative
Deutsch | English |
sich anziehen | to get dressed |
sich ausziehen | to undress |
sich baden | to bathe |
sich befinden | to be located |
sich beschweren (über) | to complain |
sich duschen | to shower |
sich freuen | to look forward to |
sich fühlen | to feel |
sich informieren | to inform youself |
sich interessieren | to be interested in |
sich kämmen | to comb yourself |
sich legen | to lie (position) |
sich rasieren | to shave |
sich setzen | to sit |
sich stellen | to stand |
sich treffen | to meet |
sich verabschieden | to say goodbye |
sich verletzen | to get injured |
sich vorstellen | to introduce youself |
sich waschen | to wash yourself |
Dative
Deutsch | English |
sich die Haare bürsten | to brush your hair |
sich die Haare kämmen | to comb your hair |
sich etwas anziehen | to put something on |
sich etwas ausziehen | to take something off |
sich etwas putzen | to clean something (on yourself) |
sich wehtun | to hurt yourself |
Demonstrative Pronouns
These pronouns can only be used after something was specified and you’d like to refer specifically to that object or subject. For an English example, “I don’t get your reference, because I haven’t seen that movie.”, as a reply to “You remind me of the boss from Office Space!”.
Demonstrative Pronoun Declension Table
This
Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
Nominative | dieser | dieses | diese | diese |
Accusative | diesen | dieses | diese | diese |
Dative | diesem | diesem | dieser | diesen |
Genitive | dieses | dieses | dieser | dieser |
That
Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
Nominative | jener | jenes | jene | jene |
Accusative | jenen | jenes | jene | jene |
Dative | jenem | jenem | jener | jenen |
Genitive | jenes | jenes | jener | jener |
Note that while the “jener” form exists and is always valid to use in a “that” situation, there is a prevailing colloquial preference for the usage of “dieser” in many situations.
Examples
- Diese Gitarre ist mein Favorit. (This guitar is my favorite.)
- Man sagt, dass es in diesen/jenen Bergen Trolle leben! (It’s rumored that trolls live in those mountains!)
- Ich habe diesen Mann schon mal gesehen. (I have already seen that man.)
Relative Pronouns
These are used in the place of a superfluous rementioning of information previously mentioned, for example “My mom is very talented, so I like to compliment her. She can …” instead of “My mom is very talented, so I like to compliment my mom. My mom can…”.
In German, they function the same way as in English. Yet, they abide by declination rules and also sometimes change the word order, necessitating a verb to be shifted to the end of the clause.
Relative Pronoun Declension Table
Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
Nominative | der | das | die | die |
Accusative | den | das | die | die |
Dative | dem | dem | der | denen |
Genitive | dessen | dessen | deren | deren |
Examples
(1). Taylor Swift, die meine Lieblingskünstlerin ist, kommt nach München! (Taylor Swift, who is my favorite artist, is coming to Munich!)
- “die” is in the nominative feminine form, as Taylor Swift is a female and is being described with the verb “sein”
- See how the “ist” (conjugated form of “sein” is shifted to the end of the clause
(2). Der Song, den ich gestern gehört habe, heißt Blank Space. (The song that I heard yesterday is called Blank Space.)
- “den” is in the masculine accusative form, because the masculine-gender “Song” is being listened to
- “habe” is shifted to the end of the clause
(3). Ich habe die Mutter getroffen, deren lärmende Kinder in der Wohnung neben mir wohnen. (I met the mother whose noisy kids live in the apartment next to me.)
- “deren” is in the feminine genitive, since “die Mutter” is a feminine noun and the relative pronoun indicates possession/relationship (genitive)
- “wohnen” is shifted to the end of the clause
Interrogative Pronouns
The interrogative pronouns wer, was, wem, wen and wessen have direct English equivalents.
Interrogative Pronoun Declension Table
Deutsch | English | |
Nominative | wer / was | who / what |
Accusative | wen / was | who / what |
Dative | wem | who |
Genitive | wessen | whose |
Examples
- Wer hat das gesagt? (Who said that?)
- Wem hast du das gesagt? (To whom did you say that?)
- Du hast über wen gesprochen? (Who did you speak about?)
- Wessen Auto ist das? (Whose car is that?)
Indefinite Pronouns
Hence the name, these pronouns are describing something which is rather non-specific. In English, this is “something, anything, nothing”, or “someone, everyone, each”.
Here are the most common indefinite pronouns and how to use them.
Man
Do not confuse this with Mann (the man). This indefinite pronoun is used to describe a general person (like the English “one”, as in “one can”, or “you”, as in “you can’t simply…”).
This indefinite pronoun only takes the form of “man” in the nominative case, and will assume different forms in the other cases.
Indefinite Pronoun Declension Table
Nominative | man |
Accusative | einen |
Dative | einem |
Genitive | eines |
Examples
- Kann man hier essen? (Can one eat here?)
- Die Folter macht einen verrueckt. (Torture makes one/you crazy.)
- Die Arbeitserlaubnis wird einem erst nach der Antragseinreichung gegeben. (The work permit will be given to one/you after the submission of the submission form.)
- Das Militär gedenkt eines für seinen Dienst. (The military commemorates one for his service.)
Jedes/Jede/Jeder
This is the German “each” or “every”, depending on the context. To exemplify the translatable flexibility, here are a few sample sentences.
Jedes/Jede/Jeder Declension Table
Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
Nominative | jeder | jede | jedes | – |
Genitive | jedes/jeden | jeder | jedes/jeden | – |
Dative | jedem | jeder | jedem | – |
Accusative | jeden | jede | jedes | – |
Examples
- Jeder muss helfen. (Everyone must help.)
- Jede Frau weiß, dass eine Schwangerschaft schwierig ist. (Every woman knows that pregnancy is difficult.)
- Jede Frage wurde sorgfältig beantwortet. (Each question was answered carefully.)
A common usage of this pronoun is also paired with the genitive, so…
- Jeder der Mitarbeiter hat geholfen. (Each of the employees helped.)
- Jede der Frauen erzählte von ihrer schwierigen Schwangerschaft. (Each of the women spoke about her difficult pregnancy.)
- Jede der Fragen wurde sorgfältig beantwortet. (Each of the questions was answered carefully.)
Etwas and Nichts
These can be translated to something and nothing (or “anything” in some cases). These two words are not declined and are used just like in English.
Examples
- Ich habe etwas gesehen. (I saw something.)
- Wirklich? Ich habe nichts gesehen. (Really? I saw nothing.)
Another common usage of of these indefinite pronouns is with an adjective following. In this case, the adjective is capitalized and takes an extra “-es” at the end. The conjugations of adjectives will be discussed in Adjectives. For now, here are two examples using “süß” (sweet) and “traurig” (sad).
- Ich möchte etwas Süßes essen. (I want something sweet to eat.)
- Ich will nichts Trauriges hören. (I don’t want to hear anything sad.)
Jemand and Niemand
These can be translated generally as “somebody” and “nobody”. They are declined, including a genitive form, which means they can also take the meaning of “somebody’s” and “nobody’s”.
Jemand and Niemand Declension Table
Somebody
Nominative | jemand |
Genitive | jemandes |
Dative | jemandem |
Accusative | jemanden |
Nobody
Nominative | niemand |
Genitive | niemandes |
Dative | niemandem |
Accusative | niemanden |
Note: in dative and accusative, both jemand and niemand sometimes will assume the nominative form. This will occur if an adjective follows the pronoun. Example sentence three and four will exemplify this.
Examples
- Das würde ich niemandem sagen. (I wouldn’t tell anyone that.) (I would tell nobody that.)
- Ich habe jemanden gesehen. (I saw somebody.)
- Ich brauche jemand Großes, der mir hilft, den Engel am Weihnachtsbaum zu erreichen. (I’m looking for somebody tall to help me reach the angel on the Christmas tree.)
- Here, the jemand is in accusative but takes the nominative form because the adjective “groß” (tall) follows it
- Ich würde niemand Fremdem mein Passwort verraten. (I wouldn’t tell anyone unknown/unfamiliar my password.)
- Here, the niemand is in dative but takes the nominative form because the adjective “fremd” (unfamiliar) follows it
What to Read Next
- Basic German Grammar Structure for Beginners
- German Declensions: Rules, Regulations, and Chart
- German Nouns: Gender, Masculine, Feminine, and Plural Forms
- German Articles: Definite, Indefinite, Negative, and Zero
- German Clauses: Independent, Dependent, and Types
- German Adverbs: Explanation, List, and Usage
- German Prepositions: Accusative, Dative, Genitive, and More
Or go back to our Learn German Language page for more learning resources.