German Phrases

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Know Your Pronouns by Edward Swick, M.A.

You have encountered other pronouons besides subject pronouns in the nominative case. There are also accusative pronouns, dative pronouns, reflexive pronouns, and relative pronouns. The list may seem long, but all pronouns follow a simple and logical pattern.

Accusative Pronouns

The accusative case is required when a noun is a direct object or when it follows an accusative preposition (durch, für, gegen, ohne, um). The same is true of pronouns: They can be used as direct objects or can follow an accusative preposition. The German accusative case pronouns are:

mich (me)

dich (you [singular, informal])

ihn (him, it)

sie (her, it)

es (it)

uns (us)

euch (you [plural, informal])

Sie (you [singular/plural, formal])

sie (them)

In a sentence, the direct object pronoun follows the verb.

Sie findet es. (She finds it.)

Er liebt uns. (He loves us.)

Ich kenne dich. (I know you.)

With prepositions, the pronouns appear like this:

Er arbeitet für euch. (He works for you.)

Sie kommt ohne ihn. (She comes without him.)

Dative Pronouns

The dative case is required for indirect objects and following a dative preposition (aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu). In a sentence, the indirect object pronoun follows the verb. The German dative case pronouns are:

mir (me)	dir (you [singular, informal])
ihm (him, it)	ihr (her, it)
ihm (it)	uns (us)
euch (you [plural, informal])
Ihnen (you [singular/plural, formal])	ihnen (them)

In a sentence, indirect object pronouns precede the direct object if it is a noun. Indirect object pronouns follow the direct object if it is a pronoun.

Ich gebe dir das Geld. (I give you the money.)

Ich gebe es dir. (I give it to you.)

With prepositions, the pronouns appear like this:

Helga spricht mit ihnen. (Helga speaks with them.)

Sie wohnen bei ihm. (They live with him [at his house].)

<B>Reflexive Pronouns</B></h2> <p>German reflexive pronouns can be in either the accusative case or the dative case and resemble the accusative and dative pronouns closely. Only their function is different.</p> <table frame="all" width="100%"> <h2> <tgroup cols="3"> <colspec colname="col1" colnum="1" colwidth="40%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <colspec colname="col2" colnum="2" colwidth="30%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <colspec colname="col3" colnum="3" colwidth="30%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <tbody> <tr> <td><p><B>Accusative</B></p></td> <td><p><B>Dative</B></p></td> <td><p><B>English</B></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>mich</B></p></td> <td><p><B>mir</B></p></td> <td><p>myself</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>dich</B></p></td> <td><p><B>dir</B></p></td> <td><p>yourself (singular, informal)</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>sich</B></p></td> <td><p><B>sich</B></p></td> <td><p>himself, itself</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>sich</B></p></td> <td><p><B>sich</B></p></td> <td><p>herself, itself</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>sich</B></p></td> <td><p><B>sich</B></p></td> <td><p>itself</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>uns</B></p></td> <td><p><B>uns</B></p></td> <td><p>ourselves</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>euch</B></p></td> <td><p><B>euch</B></p></td> <td><p>yourselves (plural, informal)</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>sich</B></p></td> <td><p><B>sich</B></p></td> <td><p>yourself, yourselves (singular/plural, formal)</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>sich</B></p></td> <td><p><B>sich</B></p></td> <td><p>themselves</p></td> </tr> </tbody> </tgroup> </table> <p>The reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and the object in a sentence are the same person or thing.</p> <div class="npsb"> <p><B>Sie kauft ihm eine Jacke.</B> (She buys him a jacket.)</p> <p><B>Sie kauft sich eine Jacke.</B> (She buys herself a jacket.)</p> </div> <p>Verbs that usually require a reflexive pronoun are called reflexive verbs. Some of the most common ones are:</p> <table frame="all" width="100%"> <tgroup cols="2"> <colspec colname="col1" colnum="1" colwidth="50%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <colspec colname="col2" colnum="2" colwidth="50%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <tbody> <tr> <td><p><B>sich anziehen</B></p></td> <td><p>to dress</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>sich ausziehen</B></p></td> <td><p>to undress</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>sich duschen</B></p></td> <td><p>to shower</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>sich freuen</B></p></td> <td><p>to be glad</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>sich hinlegen</B></p></td> <td><p>to lie down</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>sich rasieren</B></p></td> <td><p>to shave oneself</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>sich setzen</B></p></td> <td><p>to sit down</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>sich waschen</B></p></td> <td><p>to wash oneself</p></td> </tr> </tbody> </tgroup> </table> <p>When a reflexive verb is conjugated, the appropriate reflexive pronoun must be used.</p> <table frame="all" width="100%"> <tgroup cols="2"> <colspec colname="col1" colnum="1" colwidth="50%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <colspec colname="col2" colnum="2" colwidth="50%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <tbody> <tr> <td><p><B>ich setze mich</B></p></td> <td><p>I sit down (I seat myself)</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>du setzt dich</B></p></td> <td><p>you sit down (you seat yourself)</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>er setzt sich</B></p></td> <td><p>he sits down (he seats himself)</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>wir setzen uns</B></p></td> <td><p>we sit down (we seat ourselves)</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>Sie setzen sich</B></p></td> <td><p>you sit down (you seat yourself/yourselves)</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>ihr setzt sich</B></p></td> <td><p>you sit down (you seat yourselves)</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>sie setzen sich</p></td> <td><p>they sit down(they seat themselves)</p></td> </tr> </tbody> </tgroup> </table> <title><B>Relative Pronouns</B></h2> <p>The German relative pronouns are <B>der-</B>words — the definite articles or <B>welcher</B>. Just like English relative pronouns, German relative pronouns link a relative clause to a main clause. This occurs when the same noun is in both clauses. Two sentences such as “He knows the man. The man bought my car.” become one sentence: “He knows the man who bought my car.” The English relative pronouns (who, whom, whose, that, which) can be replaced by either a definite article or <B>welcher</B>, which closely follow the <B>der-</B>word declensional pattern.</p> <table frame="all" width="100%"> <tgroup cols="3"> <colspec colname="col1" colnum="1" colwidth="40%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <colspec colname="col2" colnum="2" colwidth="30%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <colspec colname="col3" colnum="3" colwidth="30%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <tbody> <tr> <entry/> <td><p><B>Masculine</B></p></td> <td><p><B>Feminine</B></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>nominative</p></td> <td><p><B>der/welcher</B></p></td> <td><p><B>die/welche</B></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>accusative</p></td> <td><p><B>den/welchen</B></p></td> <td><p><B>die/welche</B></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>dative</p></td> <td><p><B>dem/welchem</B></p></td> <td><p><B>der/welcher</B></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>genitive</p></td> <td><p><B>dessen</B></p></td> <td><p><B>deren</B></p></td> </tr> </tbody> </tgroup> </table> <table frame="all" width="100%"> <tgroup cols="3"> <colspec colname="col1" colnum="1" colwidth="40%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <colspec colname="col2" colnum="2" colwidth="30%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <colspec colname="col3" colnum="3" colwidth="30%" colsep="0" rowsep="0" align="left"/> <tbody> <tr> <entry/> <td><p><B>Neuter</B></p></td> <td><p><B>Plural</B></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>nominative</p></td> <td><p><B>das/welches</B></p></td> <td><p><B>die/welche</B></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>accusative</p></td> <td><p><B>das/welches</B></p></td> <td><p><B>die/welche</B></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>dative</p></td> <td><p><B>dem/welchem</B></p></td> <td><p><B>denen/welchen</B></p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>genitive</p></td> <td><p><B>dessen</B></p></td> <td><p><B>deren</B></p></td> </tr> </tbody> </tgroup> </table> <p>The relative pronoun that replaces a noun must be the same number, gender, and case as the noun. For example:</p> <div class="npsb"> <p><B>Wo ist der Mann, der Deutsch spricht?</B></p> <p>(Where is the man who speaks German?)</p> <p><B>Wo ist die Frau, die Deutsch spricht?</B></p> <p>(Where is the woman who speaks German?)</p> <p><B>Wo ist das Mädchen, das Deutsch spricht?</B></p> <p>(Where is the girl who speaks German?)</p> <p><B>Wo sind die Kinder, die Deutsch sprechen?</B></p> <p>(Where are the children who speak German?)</p> </div> <p>If the relative pronoun in the relative clause is used as the subject, it will be in the nominative case. As a direct object or after an accusative preposition, it will be in the accusative case. As an indirect object or after a dative preposition, it will be in the dative case. 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