German All-in-One For Dummies
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The biggest difference between German personal pronouns and English personal pronouns is that you have to distinguish among three ways to say you: du, ihr, and Sie. Other personal pronouns, like ich and mich (I and me) or wir and uns (we and us), bear a closer resemblance to English.

The genitive case isn’t represented among the personal pronouns because it indicates possession; the personal pronouns represent only people, not something those people possess.

Check out the following table for a list of the personal pronouns. Notice that you and it don’t change in English and the accusative (for direct objects) and dative (for indirect objects) pronouns are identical. The table lists the distinguishing factors for the three forms of you — du, ihr, and Sie — in abbreviated form. Here’s what the abbreviations mean: s. = singular, pl. = plural, inf. = informal, form. = formal.

Nominative (nom.) Accusative (acc.) Dative (dat.)
ich (I) mich (me) mir (me)
du (you) (s., inf.) dich (you) (s., inf.) dir (you) (s., inf.)
er (he) ihn (him) ihm (him)
sie (she) sie (her) ihr (her)
es (it) es (it) ihm (it)
wir (we) uns (us) uns (us)
ihr (you) (pl., inf.) euch (you) (pl., inf.) euch (you) (pl., inf.)
sie (they) sie (them) ihnen (them)
Sie (you) (s. or pl., form.) Sie (you) (s. or pl., form.) Ihnen (you) (s. or pl., form.)

About This Article

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About the book authors:

Wendy Foster teaches Business English, German, French, and intercultural communication skills. She also does editing for online German education programs. Wendy received her degree in German studies at the Sprachen-und-Dolmetscher-Institut in Munich and later her MA in French at Middlebury College in Paris.

Paulina Christensen has been working as a writer, editor, and translator for more than 10 years. She has developed, written, and edited numerous German-language textbooks and teachers' handbooks for Berlitz International. Dr. Christensen recieved her MA and PhD from Dusseldorf University, Germany.

Anne Fox has been working as a translator, editor, and writer for more than 12 years. She studied at Interpreter's School, Zurich, Switzerland, and holds a degree in translation. Most recently she has been developing, writing, and editing student textbooks and teacher handbooks for Berlitz.

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