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German personal pronouns change form depending on the grammatical case — just like English "I/me" or "he/him." But German has four cases instead of two, so there are more forms to learn. This lesson gives you the complete picture and shows you how to use each form correctly.
| Person | Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st sg. | ich (I) | mich (me) | mir (to me) | meiner (of me) |
| 2nd sg. informal | du (you) | dich (you) | dir (to you) | deiner (of you) |
| 3rd sg. masc. | er (he) | ihn (him) | ihm (to him) | seiner (of him) |
| 3rd sg. fem. | sie (she) | sie (her) | ihr (to her) | ihrer (of her) |
| 3rd sg. neut. | es (it) | es (it) | ihm (to it) | seiner (of it) |
| 1st pl. | wir (we) | uns (us) | uns (to us) | unser (of us) |
| 2nd pl. informal | ihr (you all) | euch (you all) | euch (to you all) | euer (of you all) |
| 3rd pl. | sie (they) | sie (them) | ihnen (to them) | ihrer (of them) |
| Formal (sg/pl) | Sie (you) | Sie (you) | Ihnen (to you) | Ihrer (of you) |
Key patterns:
- Wir/uns/uns — accusative and dative are the same!
- Ihr/euch/euch — accusative and dative are the same!
- Er → ihn (acc) → ihm (dat) — all different
- Sie (she) → sie (acc) → ihr (dat) — accusative stays the same, dative changes
The pronoun is the subject — the one performing the action:
The pronoun receives the action directly:
The pronoun is the recipient or beneficiary:
The genitive of personal pronouns is rarely used in modern German but appears in fixed expressions and literary language:
In everyday German, possession is expressed with possessive articles (mein, dein, sein, etc.) rather than genitive pronouns.
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