German Pronouns

Learn how to refer to yourself, to others and to things in German without using nouns.

👋This lesson is about German pronouns. It's part of our free A1 German lessons. As a beginner, also make sure to check out our section on easy German texts to read & our simple stories for beginners

So far in this course, we’ve tackled some key parts of German grammar. We’ve covered nouns, verbs, and declension.

This means we can now create simple sentences with a subject, action, and object in the nominative and accusative cases.

subject

action

object

The grandma drinks the wine.

In this lesson, let’s learn how to use pronouns in our sentences, focusing on the nominative and accusative cases.

subject

action

pronoun

She drinks it.

Introduction To Pronouns

There are several types of pronouns, but we’ll focus on three in this lesson.

Personal Pronouns
Possessive Pronouns
Demonstrative Pronouns

First, let’s start with personal pronouns (in the nominative and accusative cases).

1. Personal Pronouns

Nominative Case

Take a look at this grammar table for personal pronouns in the nominative case:

Pronoun	Translation
ich	I
du	you (informal)
er / sie / es	he / she / it
wir	we
ihr	you (plural)
sie	they
Sie	you (formal)

Personal Pronouns (Nominative Case)

In German, there are both formal and informal ways to address someone. You might speak casually to a friend using the pronoun du, but you’d address your boss formally with Sie.

Using the table above, replace each noun with the correct personal pronoun in the following example sentences.

1. essen. (die Frauen)

2. lernt. (der Mann)

3. schlägt. (das Herz)

Remember: All nouns have a gender. This is important, because the pronoun must match. For example, das Herz is neutral, so we use es, while die Blume is feminine, so we must use sie.

Accusative Case

Now, let’s look at the same table of personal pronouns but with the addition of the accusative case:

Pronoun (Nom)	Pronoun (Acc)	Translation (Nom)	Translation (Acc)
ich	mich	I	me
du	dich	you	you
(er / sie / es)	ihn / sie / es	(he / she / it)	(him / her / it)
wir	uns	we	us
ihr	euch	you (plural)	you (plural)
sie	sie	they	them
Sie	sie	you (formal)	you (formal)

Personal Pronouns (Nominative + Accusative Cases)

Keep in mind: The cases tell us what role a noun or pronoun plays in a sentence. The nominative case is for the subject (the one doing the action), and the accusative case is for the direct object (the one receiving the action).

Using the table above, try to guess which personal pronoun could replace the noun in the accusative case in these examples.

1.Ich liebe . (die Frau)

2.Wir spielen . (das Spiel)

3.Er küsst . (Anja)

Well done! 🎉

We’ve covered personal pronouns, so now let’s move on to possessive pronouns.

2. Independent & Dependent Possessive Pronouns

Pronoun	Translation
mein	my
dein	your (informal)
sein	his
ihr	her
sein	its
unser	our
euer	your (informal, plural)
ihr	their
Ihr	your (formal)

Possessive Pronouns

Independent possessive pronouns stand alone and replace the noun:

Das ist meiner.

That is mine.

Ist das deiner?

Is that yours?

Dependent possessive pronouns accompany a noun.

Das ist mein Buch.

That is my book.

Ich sehe seinen Hund.

I see his dog

They are declined like definite articles (der, die,das) and must match the gender and case of the noun they replace.

Example Sentences: Independent Possessive Pronouns

- Ist das dein Apfel? (m)
- Nein, das ist meiner.

The ending -er is used because, when the pronoun stands alone, it must match the case (here, nominative masculine) and follows the same pattern as the definite article der.

- Ist das ihre Tasche? (f)
- Nein, das ist meine.

- Ist das sein Auto? (n)
- Nein, das ist meins.

- Sind das unsere Schlüssel? (pl)
- Nein, das sind eure.

Example Sentences: Dependent Possessive Pronouns

- Mein Hund ist nett. (m)

Because the pronoun is not standing alone, but rather is part of a noun phrase, there is no need for an ending like -er.

- Ist das ihre Tasche? (f)

- Ist das sein Buch? (n)

- Sind das unsere Schlüssel? (pl)

For more on definite articles declension, check out this lesson.

3. Demonstrative Pronouns

Nominative Case

Next, here’s a grammar table for demonstrative pronouns in the nominative case:

Translation	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
this / these	dieser	diese	dieses	diese

Demonstrative Pronouns (Nominative Case)

Demonstrative pronouns describe something or someone specific, like “this is my pet” (dieses ist mein Haustier).

Using the table, write the correct demonstrative pronoun for each example. Pay close attention to the gender of the nouns and whether they’re singular or plural.

Dies_tanzen. (Katzen)

Dies_fliegt. (Vogel)

Dies_arbeitet. (Mädchen)

Accusative Case

Now, let’s look at the same table of demonstrative pronouns but with the accusative case:

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural	Translation
nom	dieser	diese	dieses	diese	this / these
acc	diesen	diese	dieses	diese	this / these

Demonstrative Pronouns (Nom and Acc Cases)

Again, only the masculine demonstrative pronoun changes in the accusative case (by replacing the -r with -n). Using the table, guess which demonstrative pronoun could replace the noun in the accusative case in these sentences.

1.Ich mag Mantel.

2.Sie liefern Paket.

3.Er spielt Musik.

Amazing 🎉!

We have now covered:

Personal Pronouns
Possessive Pronouns
Demonstrative Pronouns

... in both the nominative and accusative cases.

4. Final Exercise

Let’s wrap up this lesson with a final exercise: read the sentence and choose the correct pronoun to complete it. Use the tables in this lesson to help you:

1.Ich habe . (Kleid)

2.Sie spielen . (Spiel)

3.Wir haben . (Bücher)

4.Sie haben . (Bleistift)

Well done! 🎉

You’re now ready for the next lesson: German Numbers.

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