Plural pronouns in German. Possessive and personal pronouns in German

People begin to learn German with pronouns; this is necessary in order to achieve rapid immersion both in the language itself and in spoken grammar.

Unfortunately, many students have a variety of pronouns in their German causes some difficulties. The purpose of this article is to explain and show how some pronouns differ from others.

A pronoun is a part of speech that points to objects but does not name them. Pronouns replace or accompany a noun. The German language has the following pronouns: personal, possessive, demonstrative, interrogative, relative, indefinite, reciprocal, reflexive and impersonal es.

In this article we will take a closer look at personal and possessive pronouns.

Pronouns

German Personal Pronouns

(Personalpronomen) point to a person or object.

Face	Singular	Plural
1st	ich - I	wir - we	Speaking face
2nd	du - you	ihr - you	The person to whom the speech is addressed
3rd	er, sie, es – he, she, it	sie – they or Sie – you	The person or thing in question

Note! The polite form Sie/you in German coincides in its grammatical forms with the pronoun sie/they of the 3rd person plural.

This fact is that many pronouns have the same form but have different meanings, often leads to great confusion. I will give some examples later to illustrate.

Personal pronouns change according to cases (inflect). In the table below you can see the declination.

Singular						Plural			Form of polite address
Face	1st	2nd	3rd			1st	2nd	3rd
Nom	ich	du	er	sie	es	wir	ihr	sie	Sie
Dat	mir	dir	ihm	ihr	ihm	uns	euch	ihnen	Ihnen
Akk	mich	dich	ihn	sie	es	uns	euch	sie	Sie

The table contains other cases of coincidence of personal pronouns. For example, uns may mean us or us. If you have any doubt about how to correctly translate a pronoun, you can always ask a question about the pronoun and get your bearings.

Example: Martin sieht uns jeden Tag. (Martin sees us every day.) Wen sieht Martin jeden Tag? (Who does Martin see every day?) Question wen? corresponds to the accusative case (Akkusativ). The pronoun in this sentence translates us.

German possessive pronouns

(Possessivpronomen) denote that the word being defined belongs to someone or something.

Let's look at possessive pronouns. In Russian the pronoun mine may denote affiliation to different persons. In German, each personal pronoun has its own possessive pronoun.

Personal pronoun	Possessive pronoun	Example
ich - I	mein - mine	Das ist mein Sohn Peter.
du - you	dein – yours	Dein Leben ist gut.
er – he	sein - him	Wir sehen sein Auto.
sie - she	ihr –ee	Ihr Bett ist nicht groß.
es - it	sein - him	Hier ist das Baby und sein Stoffhund.
wir - we	unser – ours	Wie gefällt euch unser Bild?
ihr - you	euer - yours	Wo liegt EUER Haus?
sie/Sie – they/you	ihr/Ihr – theirs/yours	Ihr Chef ist sehr sympathisch.

Possessive pronouns are connected as a definition with a noun and agree with it in gender, number and case using case endings

Possessive pronouns are inflected in the singular as indefinite article, and in the plural – as a definite article.

Singular

Plural

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter gender

Nominative

mein e Mutter schöne Blumen. (I bring beautiful flowers to my mother) Wem bringe ich schöne Blumen? (To whom do I bring beautiful flowers?) The question corresponds to the dative case (Dativ). The noun Mutter is singular and feminine. The pronoun is in the form singular, female in the dative case.

How to distinguish a possessive pronoun from a personal pronoun?

Personal pronouns	Possessive pronouns
1. Answer the questions who, what? to whom; to what? who, what? Wem gibst du das Buch? Ich gebe ihr das Buch.Who are you giving the book to? I give her the book.	1. Whose questions are answered? whose? whose? whose? Wessen Kind of spielt da? Das ist ihr Kind.Whose child is playing here? This is her child.
2. Personal pronouns are used on their own and do not require a noun after them. Wir sehen ihn oft.We see him often.	2. Possessive pronouns are most often (not always!) used before the noun to which they refer. Mein Kind kann schon lesen.My child can already read.

Everything is not as complicated as it seems at first glance. A little practice and the obstinate German pronouns will conquer you. If you don't believe it, just try it!

Meaning pronouns in German very large. Often they can replace a noun, adjective, numeral, article. In a sentence, a pronoun can act as the subject. Using pronouns, interrogative or impersonal sentences and negations are made. This topic is quite extensive and requires in-depth study. Master pronouns in German The table will help.

Personal pronouns in German

Personalpronomen

_________
* Sie - polite form of you

Declension of personal pronouns

Nominativ/ Im. P.	Dativ/Dat. P.	Akkusativ/ Vin.p.
	Singular - units





	Plural - plural


sie, Sie - they, you	ihnen, Ihnen - to them, to you	sie, Sie - them, you

For example:

Ich warte auf dich. I'm waiting for you.
Ich (I) - Nominative case.
Dich (you) - accusative pronouns du (you).

Ihm gefällt Deutschland.He likes Germany.
Ihm (to him) is the dative case of the pronoun er (he).

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronoun in German- this is nothing more than Genitive(Genetiv) personal pronouns. It is formed as follows:

For example:

Ich liebe deine Schwester. I love your sister.
Ich is a personal pronoun.
Deine is a possessive pronoun.

Indefinite pronouns in German

Indefinite pronouns include pronouns such as: jemand, etwas, einer, mancher, alles, irgendein and others. This group can also include the indefinite personal pronoun man. In a sentence, they act as the subject or object (all except man, which is only the subject).

For example:

Alles ist in Ordnung. Everything is fine.
Sie muss etwasändern. She must change something.
Man kann dieses Fahrrad reparieren. This bike can be fixed.

Relative pronouns in German

Performing the function of a conjunction word, relative pronouns are used in complex sentences.

Das ist die Frau, deren Auto vor dem Haus steht. This is the woman whose car is parked in front of the house. This is a woman whose car is parked in front of the house.

Relative pronouns include: wer, was, welcher, der. The pronouns der, das, die are formed as follows:

DER (m.r.)	Gen. DES+EN
DIE (female)	Gen. DER+EN
DAS (average)	Gen. DES+EN
DIE (plural)	Gen. DER+EN
DIE (plural)	Dat. DEN+EN

Demonstrative pronouns in German

In a German sentence demonstrative pronouns most often act as a definition, however, in some cases they can take on the role of subject or complement. The majority of demonstrative pronouns are inflected in the same way as the definite article.

	Nominativ/ Name			Akkusativ/ V.p.

Demonstrative pronouns in German include:
Dieser(this), der(That), jener(That), solcher(such), derselbe(the same), selbst(himself), etc.

For example:

Dieses Buch mast mir spaß. This book gives me pleasure.
Dieses (this) - demonstrative pronoun, s.r., im.p.
Mir (to me) - personal pronoun, date pad. from ich.

The topic “Pronouns in German” is very extensive. In this article we looked at only some of the most basic types of pronouns and ways of their declension.

German personal pronouns, like Russian ones, are declined. The declension of personal pronouns in German is given in the table. It needs to be learned.

Please note that the table does not include Genitiv personal pronouns because this form is obsolete and is rarely used in modern German.

Exercises on the topic “Declination of personal pronouns in German”

1. Instead of the highlighted nouns, use the corresponding German personal pronouns in Singular or Plural. Do this exercise in writing.

For example: Du fragst Deine Mutter. - Du fragst sie (ee).
Er sucht seine Mappe und seine Karte. - Er sucht sie (theirs).

a) 1. Sein Zimmer ist unten. 2. Der Student wohnt oben. 3. Sie sucht ihr Heft. 4. Meine Schwester fragt den Vater. 5. Er wiederholt die Regel. 6. Der Dozent zeigt diesem Students seine Arbeit. 7. Zeigter seiner Tochter ein Buch?

b) 1. Der Sohn und die Tochter commen heute. 2. Die Mutter sagt ihrer Tochter und ihrem Sohn: "Guten Morgen." 3. Die Studentin sucht ihr Buch und ihr Heft. 4. Student zeigt dem Aspiranten und dem Dozenten seine Arbeit.

2. Complete the sentences with personal pronouns in brackets, using them in the appropriate case. Do it in writing.

1. Dieser Lehrer fragt … nicht oft. (du) 2. Die Studentin antwortet … richtig. (er) 3. Die Tante sagt...: “Ich komme heute um sechs.” (sie they) 4. Er sucht... lange. (wir) 5. Wir bitten…sehr. (Sie) 6. Wem antworten Sie? Ich antworte…, Kinder. (ihr) 7. Lene und Katja schreiben ... oft. (ich) 8. Du antwortest...gern. (sie she)
1. a) 1. es; 2.er; 3.es; 4.ihn; 5.sie; 6.ihm; 7.ihr

b) 1.sie; 2. ihnen; 3.sie; 4. ihnen

2. 1. dich; 2.ihm; 3. ihnen; 4. uns; 5. Sie; 6. euch; 7. mir; 8.ihr

This lesson covers following topics: Personal and indefinite pronouns, relative and reflexive pronouns. This course is prepared to help you learn grammar and complete lexicon. Try to concentrate on the following examples as they are very important for learning the language.

Pronouns

Grammar Tips:
Prepositions in expressions for time and place, demonstrative pronouns are very important to learn because they are used in everyday communication. Try to remember the new words you have. Also try to write down words that you do not understand or expressions that you are not familiar with.

The following table provides some examples, please read them carefully and determine if you can understand them.

Pronouns	Pronouns
Pronouns	Pronomen
I	Ich
You	du, Sie (Höflichkeitsform)
He	er
she	sie
We	wir
They	sie

to me	mir, mich
You	dir, dich, Ihnen, Sie
him his	ihm, ihn
her her	ihr,sie
us	uns
them	ihnen, sie

my	mein, meine
your	dein, deine, Ihr, Ihre
his	sein, seine
her	ihr, ihr
our	unser, unsere
their	ihr, ihr

my	meins
your	deins, Ihres
his	seins
her	ihres
our	unseres
their	ihres

You are finished with the first table. Did you notice any grammatical patterns? Try to use the same words in different sentences.

Pronouns - Expressions

The following table will help you understand this topic more deeply. It is important to remember any new words you come across because you will need them later.

Pronouns	Pronouns
I speak	ich spreche
You speak	du sprichst, Sie sprechen
He says	er spricht
she says	sie spricht
We are speaking	wir sprechen
they say	sie sprechen

give me	gib mir, geben Sie mir
To give you	gebe dir, gebe Ihnen
give it to him	gebe ihm, gib ihm
give her	gebe ihr, gib ihr
to give us	gib uns, geben Sie uns
give them	gebe ihnen, gib ihnen

my book	mein Buch
Your book	dein Buch, Ihr Buch
His book	sein Buch
her book	ihr Buch
our book	Unser Buch
their book	ihr Buch

We hope this lesson helped you with your grammar and vocabulary

Today we will look at one of the difficult topics in German, and more specifically the declension of pronouns in German. So let's start from the beginning: Pronouns are words that contain an indication of a person, a sign or an object, but do not specifically name them.

There are personal, interrogative, reflexive, possessive, demonstrative, indefinite, relative, negative and impersonal pronouns. Declension of pronouns in German is done according to cases, numbers and genders. Let's look at some of the groups.

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns include: ich(I), du(You), er(He), es(it), sie(she), wir(We), ihr(You), sie(They). Personal pronouns have the same cases, as nouns and answer the same questions.

	Singular Singular			Plural Plural
	1 person	2nd person	3rd person	1 person	2nd person	3rd person	Polite form
Nominative (name pad.)	ich I	du you	er he sie she es it	wir we	ihr you	sie they	Sie you
Genetiv (gen. fall.)	meiner me	deiner you	seiner him ihrer her seiner him	unser us	eurer you	ihrer them	Ihrer you
Dativ (Dan. fall.)	peace to me	dir to you	ihm him ihr her ihm him	uns us	euch to you	ihnen im	Ihnen to you
Akkusativ (vin. pad.)	mich me	dich you	ihn his sie her es his		even you	sie them	Sie you

The polite form is used to strangers and is always written with a capital letter.

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns express a question about an object or quality. Traditionally divided into two groups. The declension of pronouns in German for each group of interrogative pronouns has its own characteristics.
wer?, was?(who what?).

was f?r einer? / was f?r welche?, welcher?(what the?; which, -aya, -oe; -ie?).


	Maskulinum	Feminine	Neutrum
N (nominal case)	was f?r einer	was f?r eine	was f?r ein(e)s	was f?r welche
A (vinit. case)	was f?r einen	was f?r eine	was f?r ein(e)s	was f?r welche
D (Danish case)	was f?r einem	was f?r einer	was f?r einem	was f?r welchen
G (genitive case)		was f?r einer	was f?r eines	was f?r welcher
N (nominal case)	welcher	welche	welches	welche
A (vinit. case)	welchen	welche	welches	welche
D (Danish case)	welchem	welcher	welchem	welchen
G (genitive case)	welches	welcher		welcher

Reflexive pronouns

In German There is only one reflexive pronoun – sich (oneself) , and it happens 3rd person only singular or plural; for other persons the appropriate personal pronoun is used. It is used with reflexive verbs, reciprocal verbs or as a particle with transitive verbs.

These pronouns are only a small part of the many. To familiarize yourself with the rest, you can use the materials available to you or sign up for our