German Indefinite Pronouns: Jemand, Man, Etwas & Jeder

German indefinite pronouns are the words German uses to refer to unspecified people or things — jemand, niemand, man, jeder, etwas, nichts, alles, einige. Unlike personal pronouns (ich, du, er), they do not point to a specific individual, and several of them have surprising declension patterns that catch B1 learners off-guard: jemand takes case endings, etwas does not, and man only exists in the nominative, switching to einen and einem in the other cases.

This page collects every indefinite pronoun you need at B1, with the full declension tables, the famous "etwas Schönes" capitalized-neuter pattern, and the contrast between etwas Gutes and alles Gute. By the end you will know which words decline, which do not, and how to fix the four mistakes learners make most often.

German indefinite pronouns at a glance: quick reference

Use this table as your first reference. The rest of the page explains the patterns and the exceptions, and the FAQ handles the questions learners ask most often.

Prefer to learn by doing? You can practise these indefinite pronouns directly on this page: the free, no-sign-up drills further down mix jemand, man, etwas and jeder, and mark each answer the second you submit it so you spot a wrong ending immediately.

What are German indefinite pronouns?

A German indefinite pronoun stands in for a noun without identifying a specific person or thing. Compare:

• Personal pronoun: Anna kommt morgen — sie bringt den Kuchen. (sie = Anna, identified.)
• Indefinite pronoun: Jemand bringt den Kuchen. (someone — unspecified.)

They function the same way grammatically (subject, object, complement) but answer "who/what" with "unspecified" rather than with a named referent. German has roughly eight common ones, split into three behavioural groups:

1. Fully declining: jemand, niemand, jeder, einige.
2. Suppletive (different stem per case): man → einen → einem.
3. Invariable, but the following adjective declines: etwas, nichts, viel, wenig, alles.

If you've already worked through German personal pronouns, the case endings here will look familiar — they are built from the same -en / -em template that runs through the whole pronoun system.

How to decline jemand and niemand

Jemand (someone, anyone) and niemand (no one, nobody) are polar opposites in meaning but identical in declension. Both take -en in the accusative and -em in the dative:

Examples

Jemand hat an der Tür geklopft. — Someone knocked on the door.

Ich habe jemanden gesehen. — I saw someone.

Er hat niemandem davon erzählt. — He told no one about it.

Kennst du hier jemanden? — Do you know anyone here?

Niemand hat die Frage beantwortet. — Nobody answered the question.

Sie hat niemandem vertraut. — She trusted no one.

Spoken vs. written endings

In casual speech the case endings are often dropped — Ich habe jemand gesehen — but in writing the declined forms with -en and -em are required. When in doubt, use the full ending; it is never wrong.

jemand / niemand + adjective: the nominalized pattern

When jemand or niemand is followed by an adjective, the adjective is nominalized (capitalized) and takes strong endings:

Ich suche jemand Neues / jemanden Neuen. — I am looking for someone new.

Er hat niemand Bekanntes / niemanden Bekannten getroffen. — He met no one familiar.

The double form (with or without the case ending on jemand) reflects the spoken/written split above. Both are accepted in modern usage; the form with the ending is the safer choice in formal writing. This is the same nominalization mechanism described in the etwas / nichts section below.

German "man" pronoun: einen and einem in accusative and dative

Man is the German generic pronoun — the equivalent of English "one," "you" (generic), or "people in general." Its defining quirk is that man only exists in the nominative. As soon as the generic "one" needs to be a direct or indirect object, German switches to the suppletive forms einen (accusative) and einem (dative).

Nominative: man

Man muss viel üben. — One must practice a lot. / You have to practice a lot.

In Deutschland trinkt man viel Kaffee. — In Germany, people drink a lot of coffee.

Wie schreibt man dieses Wort? — How does one write this word?

Accusative: einen

When the generic "one" is the direct object, switch to einen:

Das kann einen wirklich ärgern. — That can really annoy you (= one, people in general).

Manche Dinge machen einen glücklich. — Some things make one happy.

So etwas bringt einen zum Nachdenken. — Something like that makes one think.

Dative: einem

When the generic "one" needs the dative, use einem:

Das passiert einem manchmal. — That happens to one sometimes.

Es fällt einem schwer, Nein zu sagen. — It is difficult for one to say no.

So etwas tut einem leid. — One feels sorry about something like that.

Important facts about man

• Man is always 3rd person singular: man kommt, man lernt, man hat. The verb behaves like er/sie/es.
• Man is not the same word as der Mann (the man). They are unrelated; the noun is capitalized and has two n's.
• Never leave man in the accusative or dative — always switch to einen / einem. This is the single most common mistake with this pronoun.

How to decline jeder, jede, jedes

Jeder (each, every, everyone) declines like dieser — it follows the full der-word pattern across all three genders:

There is no plural form — jeder is inherently singular ("each one individually"). For the plural meaning "all" use alle; for "some" use einige.

Examples

Jeder Mensch hat Träume. — Every person has dreams.

Sie hat jede Frage beantwortet. — She answered every question.

Er hat jedem Kind ein Geschenk gegeben. — He gave every child a gift.

Ich kenne jeden hier. — I know everyone here.

Das gilt für jede Situation. — That applies to every situation.

In jedem Zimmer gibt es ein Fenster. — In every room there is a window.

Jeder as a standalone pronoun

Without a following noun, jeder means "everyone / everybody":

Jeder weiß das. — Everyone knows that.

Das kann jedem passieren. — That can happen to anyone.

Jeden Tag lerne ich etwas Neues. — Every day I learn something new.

etwas, nichts + nominalized adjective: the -es pattern

Etwas (something) and nichts (nothing) are indeclinable — they never take case endings. What declines is the adjective that follows them: it is nominalized (capitalized like a noun) and takes the strong neuter ending -es.

The "etwas Schönes" pattern

etwas / nichts / viel / wenig + capitalized adjective + -es

Hast du etwas Neues gehört? — Have you heard something new?

Nichts Besonderes ist passiert. — Nothing special happened.

Er hat etwas Wichtiges vergessen. — He forgot something important.

Sie hat nichts Interessantes gefunden. — She found nothing interesting.

The capitalization is not optional — etwas neues (lowercase) is a spelling mistake, because the adjective here is acting as a noun.

Same pattern with viel and wenig

Viel (much) and wenig (little) follow the same template:

Sie hat viel Gutes getan. — She has done a lot of good.

Es gibt wenig Neues zu berichten. — There is little new to report.

Er hat viel Interessantes erlebt. — He experienced a lot of interesting things.

The alles exception: weak -e, not strong -es

After alles (everything) the adjective takes the weak ending -e instead of strong -es. Alles itself ends in -es and already supplies the strong marker, so the adjective falls back to weak:

Er hat mir alles Wichtige erzählt. — He told me everything important.

Ich wünsche dir alles Gute! — I wish you all the best!

Compare directly:

• etwas Gutes (strong ending after etwas — etwas has no ending of its own)
• alles Gute (weak ending after alles — alles already ends in -es)

Summary table

For the full mechanics of nominalized adjectives in other contexts, see German nominalized adjectives and the B1 strong-declension reference.

Common mistakes with German indefinite pronouns

These are the four errors B1 learners produce most often, with the fix in each case.

The shortcut to remember: jemand vs niemand is a meaning choice, man vs einen vs einem is a case choice, etwas/nichts vs alles is a spelling-of-the-adjective choice. Three different decisions, three different mistake patterns.

German indefinite pronouns: when to use which

• Use jemand / niemand when the referent is a person and you do not want to (or cannot) name them. The contrast with personal pronouns is identity: jemand = unspecified person, er/sie/es = specific antecedent.
• Use man for generic statements ("one does", "people say"). Switch to einen in the accusative, einem in the dative.
• Use jeder for distributive singular ("each, every"). For total plural use alle; for partial plural use einige.
• Use etwas / nichts when the referent is a thing and indefinite. If you need to add a quality, use the nominalized-adjective pattern with strong neuter -es.
• Use alles for the totality of things ("everything"). Remember the weak -e ending on the following adjective: alles Gute, alles Wichtige.