Personal Pronouns in German Grammar
In German grammar, pronouns are declined or inflected depending on what case they are in
Pronouns, Pronomen in German, replace nouns. In German grammar, pronouns decline or inflecte depending on what case they are in. Personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, reflexive pronouns, relative pronouns, and interrogative pronouns are all explained in the following lesson .
Pronouns in German Grammar
Pronouns, Pronomen in German, replace nouns. In German grammar, pronouns decline or inflecte depending on what case they are in. Personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, reflexive pronouns, relative pronouns, and interrogative pronouns are all explained in the following pages.
Personal Pronouns
they replace nouns that have already been mentioned. In German grammar, personal pronouns are declined depending on the case they are in (see below: table of personal pronouns in nominative accusative and dative). We use personal pronouns to talk about ourselves and to address other people.
Usage
Personal pronouns have a different form for each grammatical person. They can reflect gender or number. We use personal pronouns in German grammar to express different things:
- We use personal pronouns in the 3rd person (er, sie, es) to replace a previously mentioned noun.
Example: Ich habe eine Katze. Sie ist sehr niedlich.
To avoid misunderstandings, it should always be clear which noun we are replacing (in case of doubt, it’s better to just repeat the noun).
Example: Herr Schneider hatte einen Wellensittich. Er ist gestorben
(Who – the budgerigar or Herr Schneider?).
- We use pronouns in the 3rd person neuter (es) in impersonal forms.
Example: Es regnet. Es ist schon spät
- We can also es as a placeholder for an entire clause that comes later in the sentence.
Example: Es freut mich, dass du mich besuchst.
instead of: Dass du mich besuchst, freut mich.
- We use personal pronouns in the first person (ich, wir) to talk about ourselves in singualr (ich) or plural (wir).
Example: Ich habe Hunger. Mir ist kalt. Wir gehen ins Kino. Uns ist das egal.
- We use personal pronouns in the 2nd person (du, ihr) or the polite form Sie (identical to the 3rd personal plural, except that the pronoun is written with a capital letter) to address other people,.
Example: Wie heißt du? Wie geht es dir? Woher kommt ihr? Welche Musik gefällt euch? Können Sie das bitte wiederholen? Kann ich Ihnen helfen?
Finally, now you can use personal pronouns in German perfectly. In addition you can make a good sentence using the pronouns in German. As for more daily German lessons you can download our Learning German app.