German Personal Pronouns: ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr
German personal pronouns explained: ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, Sie — du vs Sie, accusative & dative forms. A1 reference with examples and practice.
German personal pronouns are the small set of words — ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, Sie — that stand in for people or things so you don't have to repeat the noun. They are the first pronouns you learn in German, and they reappear in every sentence you produce: as the subject (nominative), as a direct object (accusative), and as an indirect object (dative). This page is the complete A1 reference.
Two things make German personal pronouns trickier than their English counterparts. First, the third-person singular splits by grammatical gender, not biological sex (der Tisch → er, das Mädchen → es). Second, there are two different ways to say "you" — du (informal) and Sie (formal) — and choosing the wrong one is the most common social slip a beginner can make.
German personal pronouns at a glance: full nominative table
| Person | Pronoun | English | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st sg. | ich | I | Ich komme aus Berlin. (I come from Berlin.) |
| 2nd sg. informal | du | you (one friend) | Du sprichst gut Deutsch. (You speak good German.) |
| 3rd sg. masc. | er | he / it (masc.) | Er arbeitet hier. / Der Tisch — er ist neu. |
| 3rd sg. fem. | sie | she / it (fem.) | Sie wohnt in Wien. / Die Lampe — sie ist kaputt. |
| 3rd sg. neut. | es | it / he, she (neut. noun) | Es regnet. / Das Mädchen — es ist neu. |
| 1st pl. | wir | we | Wir lernen Deutsch. (We are learning German.) |
| 2nd pl. informal | ihr | you all (friends) | Ihr seid spät. (You all are late.) |
| 3rd pl. | sie | they | Sie kommen morgen. (They come tomorrow.) |
| formal sg./pl. | Sie | you (formal) | Sie sind sehr nett. (You are very kind.) |
Use this table as your reference. Everything else on the page elaborates one of these rows — the case forms, the du-vs-Sie choice, and the er/sie/es agreement rules.
Want to drill ich, du, er, sie, es into reflexes rather than just read about them? The interactive exercises further down this page let you do exactly that — they are free, ask for no account, and grade each pronoun choice the instant you answer.
What are German personal pronouns?
German personal pronouns replace a noun phrase that is already known from context, so the speaker doesn't have to repeat it. They carry three pieces of information at once:
- Person — who is being talked about: the speaker (1st), the addressee (2nd), or someone else (3rd).
- Number — singular (ich, du, er/sie/es) or plural (wir, ihr, sie).
- Case — nominative for the subject, accusative for the direct object, dative for the indirect object. The form changes accordingly: ich → mich → mir.
Because pronouns reflect the grammatical features of their antecedent, getting them right depends on knowing the gender of the noun and the case the verb or preposition requires. They feed into possessives (mein, dein, sein…) and articles (der/die/das) in turn.
How do you choose between du and Sie?
German splits the second person into two registers, and the choice is social, not grammatical. Both translate to English "you", but they signal very different relationships.
| Use du when… | Use Sie when… |
|---|---|
| Talking to friends, family, partners | Meeting an adult stranger |
| Speaking to a child or teenager | Addressing a customer, client, or patient |
| Speaking to a fellow student in most schools | Talking to a teacher, doctor, official, or boss |
| Speaking to coworkers in an explicitly du-Kultur company | Working in most traditional workplaces |
| Speaking to God in prayer or to animals | Speaking to anyone you've never met (default) |
If you're unsure, default to Sie. Germans, Austrians, and Swiss-Germans take this seriously — a too-early du can come across as presumptuous. The switch to du is usually offered explicitly: "Wir können uns duzen" or "Sag bitte du zu mir" (a Du-Angebot). Once offered, accept it and don't go back.
The plural counterpart of du is ihr (informal you-all). The plural of Sie is still Sie — formal address doesn't change in the plural.
How do er, sie, es replace nouns?
When you replace a noun with er, sie, or es, the rule is simple: match the grammatical gender of the noun, not the meaning.
| Noun | Gender | Pronoun | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| der Tisch | masc. | er | Wo ist der Tisch? — Er steht im Wohnzimmer. |
| die Lampe | fem. | sie | Die Lampe ist neu. — Sie war teuer. |
| das Buch | neut. | es | Das Buch ist gut. — Es kostet 20 Euro. |
| das Mädchen | neut. | es | Das Mädchen ist nett. — Es kommt aus Hamburg. |
| die Person | fem. | sie | Eine Person wartet — sie sieht müde aus. |
The pitfall is das Mädchen → es. Biologically it refers to a girl, but the diminutive suffix -chen forces neuter, so the pronoun is es. This is grammatical agreement at work — German privileges the noun's form over the real-world reference. The same logic gives das Fräulein → es and das Kätzchen → es.
For plural nouns, gender doesn't matter — the plural pronoun is always sie (lowercase): die Tische, die Lampen, die Bücher → all sie.
Personal pronouns in the accusative case
The accusative is the direct-object case — the person or thing the verb acts on. After accusative-only verbs (sehen, kennen, finden, besuchen, lieben, rufen) and accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen, um, durch), the pronoun takes its accusative form.
Ich sehe ihn. — I see him.
| Nominative | Accusative | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ich | mich | Er kennt mich. (He knows me.) |
| du | dich | Ich sehe dich. (I see you.) |
| er | ihn | Sie ruft ihn. (She calls him.) |
| sie | sie | Ich finde sie nett. (I find her nice.) |
| es | es | Ich nehme es. (I'll take it.) |
| wir | uns | Er besucht uns. (He visits us.) |
| ihr | euch | Ich höre euch. (I hear you all.) |
| sie (pl.) | sie | Ich kenne sie. (I know them.) |
| Sie | Sie | Ich verstehe Sie. (I understand you.) |
Common accusative verbs
These verbs always take a direct object in the accusative:
- sehen (to see): Siehst du mich?
- kennen (to know): Ich kenne ihn.
- finden (to find / consider): Er findet sie sympathisch.
- besuchen (to visit): Wir besuchen euch.
- lieben (to love): Sie liebt ihn.
- rufen / anrufen (to call): Ich rufe dich an.
Accusative prepositions with pronouns
| Preposition | Example |
|---|---|
| für (for) | Das ist für mich. |
| ohne (without) | Ohne dich gehe ich nicht. |
| gegen (against) | Alle sind gegen uns. |
| um (around) | Er sitzt um sie herum. |
| durch (through) | Durch ihn habe ich es erfahren. |
10 exercises on this rule · about 5 min
Personal pronouns in the dative case
The dative is the indirect-object case — the recipient or beneficiary of the action. It's required after dative-only verbs (helfen, gefallen, gehören, danken, schmecken, fehlen) and after dative prepositions (mit, von, zu, bei, nach, aus, seit).
Kannst du mir helfen? — Can you help me?
| Nominative | Dative | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ich | mir | Hilf mir! (Help me!) |
| du | dir | Ich gebe dir das Buch. (I give you the book.) |
| er | ihm | Ich danke ihm. (I thank him.) |
| sie | ihr | Das gehört ihr. (That belongs to her.) |
| es | ihm | Ich gebe ihm Wasser. (I give it water.) |
| wir | uns | Er hilft uns. (He helps us.) |
| ihr | euch | Ich schreibe euch. (I write to you all.) |
| sie (pl.) | ihnen | Ich antworte ihnen. (I answer them.) |
| Sie | Ihnen | Kann ich Ihnen helfen? (Can I help you?) |
Common dative verbs
These verbs take a dative object, not an accusative one — a frequent source of beginner errors:
- helfen (to help): Ich helfe dir.
- gefallen (to please): Das gefällt mir.
- gehören (to belong to): Das gehört ihm.
- schmecken (to taste good to): Es schmeckt uns.
- fehlen (to be missing to / to miss): Du fehlst mir.
- danken (to thank): Ich danke Ihnen.
Dative prepositions with pronouns
| Preposition | Example |
|---|---|
| mit (with) | Kommst du mit mir? |
| von (from / of) | Das ist nett von dir. |
| zu (to) | Ich komme zu euch. |
| bei (at / with) | Er wohnt bei ihnen. |
| nach (after) | Nach ihm bin ich dran. |
For the wider list of dative-governing prepositions, see German dative prepositions.
10 exercises on this rule · about 5 min
Common pitfalls and how to avoid them
These are the personal-pronoun errors learners produce most often, with the correction in each row.
| Mistake | Why it's wrong | Correct form |
|---|---|---|
| Greeting a stranger with du | Du is informal-only; with adults you don't know, it sounds presumptuous or rude. | Default to Sie until a Du-Angebot is offered: Guten Tag, Sie sind Frau Müller? |
| Writing sie for formal you | Formal Sie must be capitalized in every form — Sie, Ihnen, Ihr (possessive). | Können Sie mir helfen? Ich danke Ihnen. |
| Das Mädchen → sie because it's a girl | German pronouns agree with grammatical gender, not biological sex. -chen forces neuter. | Das Mädchen ist neu. Es kommt aus Berlin. |
| Der Tisch → es (because "it" in English) | English collapses everything non-human to "it"; German keeps three genders for things too. | Wo ist der Tisch? Er steht im Wohnzimmer. |
| Ich helfe dich | Helfen takes the dative, not the accusative. The pronoun must follow the verb's case. | Ich helfe dir. |
| Confusing sie (she) and sie (they) | The verb ending tells them apart: sie ist (sg., she) vs sie sind (pl., they). | Sie ist müde. vs Sie sind müde. |
| Ihr seid… spoken to a single child | Ihr is plural ("you all"). For one child use du. | Du bist spät. / Ihr seid spät. (depending on how many) |
| Dropping the pronoun like in Italian or Spanish | German is not a pro-drop language — every finite verb needs an explicit subject pronoun (except imperatives). | Bin müde. ❌ → Ich bin müde. ✓ |
The shortcut to remember: case is decided by the verb or preposition; gender of er/sie/es is decided by the noun's grammatical class; du-vs-Sie is decided by the social relationship. Three independent dials.
How personal pronouns connect to the rest of the grammar
Personal pronouns are the entry point to several closely related topics:
- Articles — der/die/das pick the same gender categories the pronouns do. See German articles.
- Noun gender — knowing whether to use er, sie, or es depends on the noun's grammatical gender. See German noun gender.
- Possessives — mein, dein, sein, ihr derive directly from the personal pronouns (ich → mein, du → dein, er → sein, sie → ihr). See German possessives.
- Reflexive pronouns — when the subject and the object are the same person, accusative/dative pronouns are replaced by reflexive forms (mich/mir, dich/dir, sich). See German reflexive pronouns and the B1 contrast reflexive vs personal pronouns.
Mastering the nine nominative forms — and the case shifts in the two tables above — unlocks the rest of the system.
Frequently asked questions
What are the German personal pronouns in the nominative case?
The nine nominative personal pronouns are ich (I), du (you, informal singular), er (he), sie (she), es (it), wir (we), ihr (you all, informal plural), sie (they), and Sie (you, formal — always capitalized). They are the subject pronouns: the form you use when the pronoun is doing the action of the verb.
What is the difference between du and Sie in German?
Du is the informal singular for friends, family, children, and peers; Sie (always capitalized) is the formal address for strangers, older people, professionals, and in most workplaces. Defaulting to Sie with new adults is the safe choice — wait for a Du-Angebot (an invitation to switch to du) before changing.
Why is sie sometimes she, sometimes they, and sometimes you?
Three different pronouns happen to share the surface form sie. Lowercase sie + singular verb = she (sie ist); lowercase sie + plural verb = they (sie sind); capitalized Sie + plural verb = formal you (Sie sind). The verb ending and the capitalization disambiguate.
When do you use er, sie, es to replace a noun?
Pick the pronoun that matches the grammatical gender of the noun, not its biological meaning. Der Tisch becomes er, die Lampe becomes sie, das Buch becomes es. The classic trap is das Mädchen → es, because the diminutive -chen forces neuter, even though the referent is a girl.
Does German have a gender-neutral they like English?
Not in the standard language. Singular they has no direct equivalent — German uses er, sie, or es based on the noun's grammatical gender. For an unknown person, man (one) is the closest impersonal pronoun (Man sagt… — One says…). Newer non-binary pronouns like xier or sier exist but are not part of standard A1 German.
Are personal pronouns the same in every case?
No — they change form like articles do. Ich becomes mich (accusative) and mir (dative); du becomes dich/dir; er becomes ihn/ihm; sie becomes sie/ihr; wir becomes uns/uns; ihr becomes euch/euch. Uns and euch are the only forms that stay the same across accusative and dative.
Where can I practise German personal pronouns for free?
Right on this page. The interactive accusative and dative pronoun drills embedded below run free in your browser with no sign-up, and they mark each ich/du/er/sie/es answer the moment you submit it.