Familiar and Polite Pronoun Forms in German
We are going to talk today about Familiar and Polite Pronoun Forms in German which is very important to learn it because it helps you to speak much well.
| Ihnen | (to) you (2nd person singular, dative case) |
| ihr | you (2nd person, plural, nominative case) |
| sie | they (3rd person, plural, nominative case) |
| Sie | you (2nd person, singular, nominative case) |
| wir | we (1st person, plural, nominative case) |
Die Geschäftsleute
Herr Schmidt trifft Frau Baumann. Sie sind Geschäftsleute und sie arbeiten an dem
Hauptsitz.
• Herr Schmidt:
Guten Tag, Frau Baumann!
• Frau Baumann:
Guten Tag, Herr Schmidt!
• Herr Schmidt:
Wie geht es Ihnen?
• Frau Baumann:
Sehr gut, danke. Und Ihnen?
• Herr Schmidt:
Auch gut.
• Frau Baumann:
Auch gut.
• Herr Schmidt:
Aus England? Nein. Ist er zu Besuch?
• Frau Baumann:
Aus England? Nein. Ist er zu Besuch?
• Herr Schmidt:
Aus England? Nein. Ist er zu Besuch?
In this conversation, although the subject matter is basically casual, a more formal form of German is being used intoning respect between coworkers in an office setting.
In the conversations between friends presentedto you previously the familiar form of the personal pronouns (e.g., du, dir) was used. However, German also has a polite or formal form of some of these personal pronouns. The polite form is used in conversations between strangers and more formal situations:
The polite form is always first-letter capitalized in German, which can be helpful in differentiating Sie (you) from sie (she and they); Ihnen (you) from ihnen (them). However, you will soon learn that the form of the verb telling, as shown by these example pairs using the verb, haben (have):
Haben Sie eine Zigarette? Do you have a cigarette? (polite form of you)
Sie hat keine Wurst und keinen Käse. She has no sausage and no cheese.
Sie haben viel Arbeit. They have much work (to do).
Haben sie zu viel Arbeit? Do they have too much work?
Because the first letter in a sentence is always capitalized, we cannot determine (without the verb form) whether the second and third examples begin with sie (‘she’ or ‘they’) or with Sie (polite ‘you’); a problem that would also exist in conversation.
The fourth example, where subject and verb are reversed in a question, demonstrates the pronoun ‘they’; compare it with the polite ‘you’ in the first example.
It is relatively easy for an English speaker to appreciate how context, especially in conversation, overcomes confusion considering that English has fewer forms for these pronouns than German. However, this fact does present some difficulty when learning German, since improper use of a pronoun may just create confusion in speaking or
writing German.
