German Pronouns Guide: How and When to Use Pronouns in German

Wir wollen ein neues Haus kaufen. Das Haus ist sehr schön. Das Haus ist in Stuttgart. Das Haus ist sehr groß. Das Haus ist perfekt für uns!

Translation:

We want to buy a new house. The house is very beautiful. The house is in Stuttgart. The house is very big. The house is perfect for us!

You don’t have to know a lot of German to know that these sentences do not sound very poetic. We said “das Haus” five times!

But don’t worry, there is a way to make this better! We can replace the noun “das Haus” with the adequate pronoun.

Look at this:

Wir wollen ein neues Haus kaufen. Es ist sehr schön. Das Haus ist in Stuttgart. Es ist sehr groß. Es ist perfekt für uns!

If you don’t want to sound like a text from a book for first-graders and more like a German native speaker, you will need to learn German pronouns.

First of all, what are pronouns? To explain it in the simplest way, they replace nouns in sentences.

There are a few different types of pronouns used in the German language. And that’s not all — some of them will also change through the four different German cases. But we will talk more about that in the end when you’re ready for a more advanced lesson in pronouns.

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns are the type of pronoun that you will use most often when speaking German, such as when you want to say “I”, “you”, “they,” or “us.” We use them to refer to ourselves, other people, beings, or things.

Here are the German personal pronouns:

German pronoun	English translation
Singular
ich [eeh]	I
du [doo]	you
er [ehr]	he
sie [zee]	she
es [ehs]	it
Plural
wir [veer]	we
ihr [eer]	(plural) you
sie [zee]	they
Sie [zee]	(formal) you

Remember: Don’t capitalize “I” in German like we do in English!

Here is a handy cheat sheet with the German personal pronouns that you can download and use when you need a quick reminder.

Three different types of “sie”

If you looked closely at the table above, you probably noticed that we have three different types of “sie:”

1. sie – meaning she (written with a lowercase “s”)

Kommt sie heute? (Is she coming today?)

2. sie – meaning they (also with a lowercase “s”)

Kommen sie heute? (Are they coming today?)

3. Sie – the formal form (always written with a capital letter and can be used for formal in singular and also in plural)

Sie (the form with the capital “s”) is an interesting form because you will not find it in the English language. It’s used in the German language when addressing people that are older than you, are of a higher rank, or are generally someone you want to show respect to, for example your teacher, your boss, or your friend’s mom. And it is always written with a capital letter “S.”

Herr Weber, kommen Sie heute? (Mr Weber, are you coming today?)

Möchten Sie noch etwas bestellen? (Do you want to order something else?)

Frau Kamm, Sie sind die beste Lehrerin! (Ms. Kamm, you are the best teacher!)

Possessive pronouns

If you want to say that something is yours, hers, or ours, then you will have to use the possessive pronouns.

Possessive pronouns for masculine and neutral nouns

Here are the possessive pronouns in German. We will use this form when the noun after the pronoun is either masculine or neutral.

Person	Possessive pronoun (masculine or neutral)	Translation	Example
ich	mein	my	Das ist mein Haus. This is my house.
du	dein	your	Das ist dein Hund.This is your dog.
er	sein	his	Hier ist sein Bild.Here is his picture.
sie	ihr	her	Das ist ihr Pulli.That is her pullover.
es	sein	its	Ist das sein Spielzeug?Is this its toy?
wir	unser	our	Das ist unser Kind.This is our kid.
ihr	euer	your (plural)	Ist das euer Garten?Is this your garden?
sie	ihr	their	Hier ist ihr Auto.Here is their car.
Sie	Ihr	your (formal)	Herr Maler, ist das Ihr Buch?Mr Maler, is this your book?

Possessive pronouns for feminine and plural nouns

As already mentioned, there is one very important thing you need to remember. The previous table is valid only if the thing that’s mine, yours, or ours is a masculine or neutral noun. If the person or thing after the possessive pronoun is a feminine or plural noun, we will have to add an additional ending “-e” at the end of the pronoun. Not too difficult, right?

So for feminine and plural nouns, the possessive pronouns will look like this:

Person	Possessive pronoun (feminine or plural)	Translation	Example
ich	meine	my	Das ist meine Wohnung.This is my apartment. because die Wohnung is a feminine noun
du	deine	your	Das ist deine Katze.This is your cat. because die Katze is a feminine noun
er	seine	his	Hier sind seine Bücher.Here are his books. because die Bücher is plural
sie	ihre	her	Das ist ihre Bluse.That is her blouse. because die Bluse is a feminine noun
es	seine	its	Sind das seine Spielsachen?Are these his toys? because die Spielsachen is plural
wir	unsere	our	Das sind unsere Kinder.These are our kids. because die Kinder is plural
ihr	eure	your (plural)	Ist das eure Wiese?Is this your lawn? because die Wiese is a feminine noun
sie	ihre	their	Hier ist ihre Bushaltestelle.Here is their bus stop. because die Bushaltestelle is plural
Sie	Ihre	your (formal)	Herr Maler, ist das Ihre Bücher?Mr. Maler, are these your books? because die Bücher is plural

Reflexive pronouns

There are more than just the personal and possessive pronouns — for example, there are reflexive pronouns. But what do they reflect?

Here’s the official explanation: Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and the object are the same person. In simpler terms, you use reflexive pronouns when you are doing something on or to yourself.

For example:

Ich kämme mich. 

(I am combing myself.)

Here, you are both the subject — you are doing the action, you are combing. And you are also the object — you are receiving the action, that is, you are being combed. And that’s the situation when we use a reflexive pronoun. In the sentence from the example it’s mich (myself).

Here are the German reflexive pronouns:

Person	Reflexive pronoun	Translation	Example
ich	mich	myself	Ich kämme mich.I am combing myself.
du	dich	yourself	Du duschst dich.You are showering yourself.
er	sich	himself	Er putzt sich die Zähne.He is brushing his teeth.
sie	sich	herself	Sie schminkt sich.She is putting on makeup.
es	sich	itself	Es zieht sich an.It is getting dressed.
wir	uns	ourselves	Wir treffen uns mit Freunden.We are meeting with friends.
ihr	euch	yourselves (plural)	Ihr verspätet euch.You are late.
sie	sich	themselves	Sie entschuldigen sich.They are apologizing.
Sie	sich	yourselves(formal)	Beeilen Sie sich.Hurry up.

Remember: As you can see in the examples above, in English we can often omit the reflexive pronoun when translating the sentences.

Verbs that go with reflexive pronouns

In German, we have some verbs that always require reflexive pronouns and some that will ask for it occasionally. Here are some of the verbs and example sentences with reflexive pronouns:

Verb	Translation	Example
sich ärgern	to be upset (literary – to annoy yourself)	Ich ärgere mich.I am upset.
sich anziehen	get yourself dressed	Er zieht sich an.He is getting dressed.
sich beeilen	hurry up	Wir beeilen uns.We hurry up.
sich duschen	shower	Sie duscht sich.She is showering.
sich entschuldigen	apologize	Wir entschuldigen uns.We apologize.
sich erkälten	catch a cold	Du hast dich erkältet.You caught a cold.
sich freuen	be happy, rejoice	Freut ihr euch darüber?Are you happy about it?
sich kämmen	comb yourself	Er kämmt sich nicht gerne.He doesn’t like to comb his hair.
sich schminken	put makeup on	Sie schminkt sich jeden Morgen.She puts makeup on every morning.
sich treffen	meet, get together with someone	Können wir uns morgen treffen?Can we meet tomorrow?
sich verlieben	fall in love	Ich habe mich verliebt.I fell in love.
sich die Zähne putzen	brush your teeth	Du putzt dir zweimal pro Tag die Zähne.You brush your teeth twice per day.

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are here to replace a previously mentioned noun in a sentence, meaning they help you make clearer sentences. Just like in English, demonstrative pronouns in German point to, emphasize, or distinguish something specific within a sentence.

For example:

• Gefällt dir der Mantel?

Do you like the coat?

• Welcher?

Which one?

• Dieser hier!

This one!

Some of the most used demonstrative pronouns are:

dieser – this one

der – the one

jener – that

derjenige – the one

derselbe – the same one

Remember: der/die/das are not just definite articles, but also demonstrative pronouns!

There are also different forms for masculine, feminine, neutral, and plural. Here is the table with all of the German demonstrative pronouns:

Masculine	Feminine	neutral	Plural
dieser	diese	dieses	diese
der	die	das	die
jener	jene	jenes	jene
derjenige	diejenige	dasjenige	diejenigen
derselbe	dieselbe	dasselbe	dieselben

Let’s check out a few examples:

Diese Straße führt zur Schule.

This street leads to the school.

-Hat sie ein neues Auto?

-Nein, das ist dasselbe vom letzten mal!

-Does she have a new car?

-No, it’s the same one from last time.

Das ist derjenige, der das gemacht hat!

This is the one that did it!

-Möchten sie diese Schuhe anprobieren?

-Nein, lieber die dort.

-Do you want to try on these shoes?

-No, rather the ones there.

Indefinite pronouns

Indefinite pronouns express something, well, indefinite! We will use them when talking about something general or nonspecific. 

Here are some of the German indefinite pronouns:

Indefinite Pronoun	Translation	Example
jemand	someone, somebody	Kann jemand mir helfen?Can somebody help me?
jeder	anyone	Das kann jeder machen!Anyone can do that!
etwas	something	Hast du auch etwas gehört?Did you also hear something?
irgendjemand	anyone	Ist irgendjemand hier?Is anyone here?
irgendetwas/irgendwas	anything	Möchten Sie noch irgendetwas sagen?Do you want to say anything else?
man	one, you	Hier darf man nicht parken.It’s not allowed to park here.

Remember: In German, “man” is not the same as “Mann.” “Man” means someone, anyone and has only one letter “n.” But “der Mann” is a noun meaning “man” in English and is written with a capital letter and two letters “n.”

Interrogative pronouns

The interrogative pronouns are used to make questions. That’s why they are also called question words.

Here are some of the German interrogative pronouns:

Interrogative pronoun	Translation	Example
wer	who	Wer ist dieser Mann?Who is this man?
wessen	whose	Wessen Buch ist das?Whose book is that?
welcher	which one	Welcher Mantel gefällt dir besser?Which coat do you like better?
was	what	Was ist das?What is this?
wie	how	Wie geht es dir heute?How are you today?
wann	when	Wann kommen die Gäste?When are the guests coming?
wo	where	Wo befindet sich deine Wohnung?Where is your apartment located?
warum	why	Warum kommst du immer zu spät?Why are you always late?

Pronouns in different cases

Unfortunately, it’s not enough to just learn all the pronouns. Some of them, such the personal and possessive pronouns, will also change in the different grammatical cases.

If the words “cases,” “dative,” or “declension” don’t ring a bell, feel free to skip this part and come back later when you are ready. No hard feelings, but this is a tricky part of German grammar. If you are not already familiar with it, this next section about pronoun cases will be confusing.

But if you already had your fair share of battles with the German cases, continue to this part where we will explain what the different pronouns look like in the four German cases.

Since this is definitely a topic for more advanced learners, I won’t go into too much detail here. If you are still unsure about the cases and how to use the pronouns correctly, I recommend checking out my course about the four German cases where I also talk about the different German pronouns.

Review of German cases

Here is just a very quick review of the German cases:

Nominative – Good news: you already know all the pronouns in the nominative case! The nominative case is the one we just learned, so we can jump right to the next one.

Accusative – The accusative case is used as a direct object, after some prepositions (like durch, für, gegen, ohne, um) and some specific verbs (like sehen, kaufen, or besuchen).

Dative – The dative case is used for the indirect object in the sentence, used after some prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu, gegenüber, außer) and some verbs (like helfen, antworten, or danken).

Genitive – If you know something about the genitive case, you are probably familiar with the fact that it’s the wild child of German cases — always a little different and even more complicated. It’s used mostly to express possession. But since it is not used very often, and especially not with pronouns, we will omit it in this explanation and include only the first three.

Personal pronouns with cases

Nominative	Accusative	Dative
ich	mich	mir
du	dich	dir
er	ihn	ihm
sie	sie	ihr
es	es	ihm
wir	uns	uns
ihr	euch	euch
sie	sie	ihnen
Sie	Sie	Ihnen

Possessive pronouns with cases

Person	Nominative	Accusative	Dative
ich	mein(m, n)	meinen	meinem
	meine(f, Pl)	meine	meiner
du	dein	deinen	deinem
	deine	deine	deiner
er	sein	seinen	seinem
	seine	seine	seiner
sie	ihr	ihren	ihrem
	ihre	ihre	ihrer
es	sein	seinen	seinem
	seine	seine	seiner
wir	unser	unseren	unserem
	unsere	unsere	unserer
ihr	euer	euren	euren
	eure	eure	eurer
sie	ihr	ihren	ihrem
	ihre	ihre	ihrer
Sie	Ihr	ihren	Ihrem
	Ihre	ihre	Ihrer

To wrap it all up

I hope that your takeaway from this article is that – whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced learner – the German pronouns are a must-know! And it depends on your skills and language learning goals to decide how deep into the rabbit hole you want to go. 

If you are just starting out and this whole thing seems very confusing, why not take it one step at a time and start with the first course in my series for German learners where we will learn about the personal and possessive pronouns in German.

After that, you can continue to the next level with the A1.2 course where we will expand our knowledge and learn even more of the German pronouns.