Pronouns are small words that replace nouns, hence why they are called pronouns (pro means for in Latin).
For example, if I say, “the boy rode the bike,” in the next sentence I can just say “he” to refer to the boy. This saves me from repeating myself and makes language much more efficient.
German, like English, uses pronouns frequently. Just like in English, pronouns match the gender (he/she/it) and the number (I vs. we, he/she vs. they etc.) of the noun they replace.
gender and number of pronouns
Take a look at this table showing which pronoun to use for which gender (as well as the plural) or nouns.
| gender/number | example noun | pronoun |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | der Mann | er he |
| feminine | die Frau | sie she |
| neuter | das Fahrrad | es it |
| plural | die Häuser | sie they |
Note that the pronoun very closely matches the definite article (for example der becomes er). This is not an accident!!
case of pronouns
Like English, pronouns also match the case of the noun. If you haven’t read about case yet, then take a look at this article here.
Consider in English the words I and me. If you’re doing something, you use I – “I found a dog.”
But if you’re having something done to you, you use me – “The dog found me.” Uh-oh.
nominative pronouns
Let’s look at all of the German pronouns in the nominative case. As a reminder, this case is used for the subject of the sentence – I see you.
| English | German | examples |
|---|---|---|
| I | ich | Ich esse einen Apfel. I eat an apple. |
| you (informal) | du | Du bist witzig. You’re funny. |
| he she it | er sie es | Er benutzt einen Regenschirm. He uses an umbrella. Sie sieht freundlich aus. She looks friendly. Es regnet ganz stark. It’s raining quite heavily. |
| we | wir | Wir fahren nach Portugal. We’re going to Portugal. |
| you guys / y’all | ihr | Habt ihr die Nachrichten gesehen? Have you guys seen the news? |
| they you (formal) | sie Sie (note capitalisation) | Sie waren alle da. They were all there. Sie können ihre Sachen hier lassen. You can leave your things here. |
You may notice that she and they and you (formal) are all the same. This might seem confusing, but it’s nearly always clear from context, and rarely causes issues, so don’t worry about it!
accusative pronouns
Now let’s look at the accusative pronouns. Remember that this case is used for the object of the sentence – you see me.
| English | German | examples |
|---|---|---|
| me | mich | Siehst du mich? Do you see me? |
| you | dich | Ich mag dich. I like you. |
| him her it | ihn sie es (!) | Wir haben ihn besucht. We visited him. Kannst du sie mir geben? Can you give it to me? Ich habe es repariert. I’ve repaired it. (!) |
| us | uns | Möchtest du mit uns essen? Would you like to eat with us? |
| you guys / y’all | euch | Was ist los mit euch? What’s wrong with you guys? |
| them you (formal) | sie Sie (note capitalisation) | Ich habe sie gestern Nacht gefunden. I found them last night. Ich werde Sie morgen anrufen. I will call you tomorrow. |
pronouns match the definite articles (mind blown!)
Important thing to notice here. Firstly, do you see how er/sie/es changed to ihn/sie/es? Only the masculine form changes. Where have we seen this before? Ahah! That’s right. This matches the way the definite article changes in the accusative case.
This is also a useful way to think of cases. In English we have he/him but we only have one form of the. German has er/ihn and it also has der/den. It’s almost as if English has some missing words. For example, imagine if the counterpart of he/him were “the/thinn“.
| nominative | accusative |
|---|---|
| der er he | den ihn him |
| die sie she | die sie her |
| das es it | das es it |
As you will see later on, this applies to all of the pronouns. For example the pronoun equivalent of dem is ihm.
objects have gender in German!
Another important thing to pay attention to is that it’s not just people and animals that have gender in German, but also objects. Take the word der Tisch (table), for example. I would have to refer to it as er/ihn (he/him), since the word table is masculine in German. In the table table with accusative pronouns above, you might have noticed that I used sie (her) in the example but translated it into English as “it”.
dative pronouns
Ok, let’s move onto the dative pronouns. Remember that the dative case is used for the indirect object or “beneficiary”. This corresponds to “to me” or “to you” in English. Some important verbs like geben and helfen also use this case.
| English | German | examples |
|---|---|---|
| me | mir | Kannst du mir helfen? Can you help me? |
| you | dir | Ich gebe dir meine neue Adresse. I’ll give you my new address. |
| him her it | ihm ihr ihm (!) | Was hast du ihm gesagt? What did you tell him? Es geht ihr viel besser heute. She’s doing much better today. Er folgte ihm um die Ecke. He followed it around the corner. (!) |
| us | uns | Möchtest du mit uns essen? Would you like to eat with us? |
| you guys / y’all | euch | Was ist los mit euch? What’s wrong with you guys? |
| them you (formal) | ihnen Ihnen (note capitalisation) | Ich habe sie gestern Nacht gefunden. I found them last night. Ich werde Sie morgen anrufen. I will call you tomorrow. |
Notice again that ihm/ihr/ihm match the definite articles in the dative case – dem/der/dem for masculine, feminine and neuter respectively.
Also notice how I translated Er folgte ihm um die Ecke. This could either mean that he followed him around the corner or he followed it around the corner. I chose the second in this case as I was demonstrating how ihm is the dative form of es. So the thing he followed around the corner could have been das Eichhörnchen or das Tier, for example.
genitive pronouns (included for completeness only!)
Although the genitive is still used in German in the form of nouns, you will never encounter the genitive pronouns outside of very specific contexts in old-fashioned or very formal texts. On top of this, they are only used with specific verbs or prepositions.
It’s very important not to confuse the genitive pronouns with possessive determiners, which look very similar and are used frequently.
As such, I strongly recommend not learning the genitive pronouns, as they are essentially useless.
For completeness, the genitive pronouns are: meiner, deiner, seiner, ihrer, seiner, unser, eurer, ihrer, Ihrer.
| example | meaning | more natural way of saying it |
|---|---|---|
| Man wird sich deiner erinnern. | People will remember you. | Man wird sich an dich erinnern. |
| Ich bedarf seiner nicht. | I don’t need him. | Ich brauche ihn nicht. |
| Wir gedenken ihrer. | We comemorate them. | Wir denken an sie. |
Don’t learn these examples. They are included only for completeness!
relative pronouns
As well as the standard pronouns, there is also another important category of pronouns, called relative pronouns.
They behave differently from the other pronouns. Instead of simply replacing the noun previously mentioned, they serve the function of introducing subordinate clauses, also called relative clauses, which add additional information to nouns, for example “the woman who is over there“, “the book which I’m reading” or “the dog that bit me“.
In English it’s common to miss these words out, for example in “the book that I’m reading is interesting,” but in German they can never be omitted.
Here’s what they look like:
| nominative | accusative | dative | genitive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | der | den | dem | dessen |
| feminine | die | die | der | deren |
| neuter | das | das | dem | dessen |
| plural | die | die | denen | deren |
You may notice that these are almost identical to the normal definite articles. The only ones that are different are the ones I’ve highlighted in red. Let’s look at some examples to make it clearer.
| nominative | accusative | dative | genitive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | der Mann, der hier ist the man who is here | der Mann, den ich gesehen habe the man who I saw | der Hund, mit dem sie gespielt hat the dog that she played with | der Mann, dessen Handy geklaut wurde the man whose phone was stolen |
| feminine | die Frau, die eine Jacke trägt the woman who is wearing a jacket | die Idee, die du erwähnt hast the idea that you mentioned | die Wand, an der das Bild hängt the wall on which the picture is hanging | die Frau, deren Tasche dir gefallen hat the woman whose bag you liked |
| neuter | das Auto, das da steht the car that’s there | das Problem, das du gelöst hast the problem that you solved | das Haus, vor dem wir uns getroffen haben the house that we met in front of | das Haus, dessen Tür grün ist the house “whose” door is green |
| plural | die Kinder, die spielen the children who are playing | die Bananen, die er gegessen hat the bananas that he ate | die Zügen, mit denen wir gefahren sind the trains that we took | die Kinder, deren Schuhe blau sind the children whose shoes are blue |
The important thing to remember is that the gender of the relative pronoun has to match the gender of the noun in the main part of the sentence that it refers to, but the case has to match the pronoun’s role in the second part of the sentence. For example:
| sentence 1 | sentence 2 | combined sentence ✨ |
|---|---|---|
| Der Mann ist freundlich. | Ich habe den Mann gesehen. | Der Mann, den ich gesehen habe, ist freundlich. |
| Die Kinder tragen blaue Schuhe. | Wir haben mit den Kindern gespielt. | Die Kinder, mit denen wir gespielt haben, tragen blaue Schuhe. |
That’s a basic introduction to pronouns in German. Check out the other pages for a closer look at specific types of pronouns.