Choose who or what the pronoun refers to
ich is the speaker; du addresses one person informally. wir includes the speaker and other people; ihr addresses several people informally. Formal Sie addresses one or more people politely. People being discussed use third-person forms such as er, sie or plural sie.
Pronouns can also refer to things. Match the grammatical gender of the known German noun: Der Rucksack ist neu. Er ist leicht; Die Tasche ist neu. Sie ist leicht; Das Handy ist neu. Es ist leicht. English “it” therefore does not always become es. The plural form is sie regardless of the nouns’ genders.
Make the reference recoverable. After mentioning two women, sie alone may be unclear. Repeat the name or noun if the reader cannot tell which one you mean. A correct ending cannot repair an unclear reference.
Find the case without changing the reference
The rows below keep the same person or reference across cases. ich → mich → mir still refers to the speaker. The change does not make the person plural or change who owns something. Genitive personal-pronoun forms exist, but they are uncommon in everyday beginner communication and are outside this three-case reference.
| Reference | Nominative | Accusative | Dative |
|---|---|---|---|
| one speaker | ich | mich | mir |
| one informal addressee | du | dich | dir |
| one masculine reference | er | ihn | ihm |
| one feminine reference | sie | sie | ihr |
| one neuter reference | es | es | ihm |
| speaker and others | wir | uns | uns |
| several informal addressees | ihr | euch | euch |
| several people or things | sie | sie | ihnen |
| formal addressee: one or several | Sie | Sie | Ihnen |
Notice the shared forms uns and euch: both accusative and dative use them. Feminine singular sie becomes dative ihr; plural sie becomes ihnen. Formal Sie becomes Ihnen, with a capital letter. These are different rows, so read the meaning before choosing a form.
Use the verb or preposition to choose the case
A subject uses nominative: Ich sehe Lara. The person seen is accusative: Lara sieht mich. But objects do not all take accusative. Learn a verb with its pattern: jemanden sehen versus jemandem helfen. That gives Lara hilft mir. After a preposition, follow its case requirement: für mich, but mit mir.
A useful check is to keep one reference through a short exchange: Ist Lara schon da? – Ja, sie wartet draußen. Ich sehe sie vom Fenster aus. Dann bringe ich ihr die Unterlagen. The same person appears as subject sie, accusative object sie and dative recipient ihr.
Use the existing dative and accusative guide for the full case-pattern decisions. This page supplies the complete pronoun form map. Once you have the right form, the word-order exercises help you place it in a reply.
Distinguish du, ihr, sie and Sie
Choose the address form from the relationship and situation. One friend is du; a group of friends is ihr. Formal Sie can address one colleague or an entire group. Its verb uses the plural pattern: Frau Koch, haben Sie Zeit? See the greeting scenario for an opening exchange.
Capitalization helps inside a sentence: Ich sehe sie differs from Ich sehe Sie. Every sentence starts with a capital letter, so sentence-initial spelling alone cannot make that distinction. Sie wartet uses singular agreement; context supplies the referent, such as a female person or another grammatically feminine noun. Sie warten can mean “they are waiting” or formal “you are waiting”. For this plural verb form, context must distinguish the two.
Also distinguish jobs: Ihr kommt später uses subject ihr; Ich helfe ihr uses dative “her”. In ihre Tasche, the word introduces a noun and belongs to the possessive system. Reflexive, relative and indefinite pronouns have their own functions; they are not interchangeable with these personal forms.
Keep the reference, then select the form
For each gap, identify the person or noun first. Then name the case required by the sentence. Check both decisions in the answer.
Der Rucksack ist neu. ___ kostet vierzig Euro.
Show answer and reason
Er kostet vierzig Euro. The reference is masculine singular der Rucksack; the pronoun is the subject, so use nominative er.
Lara wartet draußen. Ich sehe ___ vom Fenster aus.
Show answer and reason
Ich sehe sie vom Fenster aus. Lara is the same feminine singular reference; sehen takes an accusative object.
Die Freunde ziehen um. Ich helfe ___ am Samstag.
Show answer and reason
Ich helfe ihnen am Samstag. The reference is plural. helfen requires dative, giving lowercase ihnen.
Ich höre ___. Address one friend informally.
Show answer and reason
Ich höre dich. One informal addressee gives the du row; hören takes accusative dich.
Ich besuche ___ morgen. Address several friends.
Show answer and reason
Ich besuche euch morgen. Informal plural gives the ihr row; besuchen takes accusative euch.
Frau Koch, ich danke ___ für die Hilfe.
Show answer and reason
Frau Koch, ich danke Ihnen für die Hilfe. Formal address uses Sie; danken takes dative Ihnen, capitalized.
Bao und ich lernen zusammen. Lena hilft ___.
Show answer and reason
Lena hilft uns. A group including the speaker is wir; dative after helfen is uns.
Das Handy liegt hier. Ich nehme ___ mit.
Show answer and reason
Ich nehme es mit. The reference is neuter singular das Handy; its accusative form remains es.
Wir fahren mit ___. Complete with “him”, referring to Paul.
Show answer and reason
Wir fahren mit ihm. mit requires dative. The er row gives ihm, not ihn.
Questions about this topic
Does English “her” always become ihr?
No. For a personal reference, “I see her” is Ich sehe sie, while “I help her” is Ich helfe ihr. Before a noun, “her bag” is ihre Tasche and belongs to the possessive system.
Can Ihnen mean “them”?
Lowercase ihnen is dative “them”. Capitalized Ihnen is the dative form of formal Sie. Sentence position and context still matter, especially at the start of a sentence.
Can I use a gender-neutral es for every object?
For reference to a specific known noun, use its German grammatical gender: der Rucksack becomes er, die Tasche becomes sie and das Handy becomes es. Other uses of es are a separate topic.
Sources and further learning
- Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache: Personalpronomen
- Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache: Sprecher- und Hörer-Pronomen
- Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache: Personalpronomen terminology
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