Skip to main content

PRONOUNS


Pronouns


Definition of a pronoun

Pronouns are used to replace nouns.

Pronouns can be used as a SUBJECT or an OBJECT depending on their role in the sentence.

The subject pronouns are I, you, he, she, it, we and they. We already have a good understanding of these from class. This is NOMINATIVE CASE.

Pronouns can be used as objects. For example the pronoun him will stand in for the noun man.

 “I do not know THE MAN”
Will become:
 “I do not know HIM”

German uses either the ACCUSATIVE CASE or DATIVE CASE for OBJECTS.

We use the nominative case a lot in the German we speak in class.

It’s important to know when to use which case.

German Pronouns

When to use each case

Nominative case – The subject doing the verb.

Ask who or what is doing the verb to figure out that the sentence is nominative case.

Example:
ICH habe eine Katze.

Accusative case - Object of the verb.

Ask whom or what is being ‘verbed’. What is being had or acted on. Who or what receives the action?

Example:
Die Katze sicht MICH
Mich is the direct object of the sentence.

Dative case –Indirect object of the verb.

To whom or for what is the subject doing the verb. Who or what indirectly receives the action or is indirectly affected by the action.

Examples:
Die Katze bringt MIR eine Maus.
The mouse is the direct object and mir is indirectly affected by the action.

How to use pronouns in German

SINGULAR
PLURAL
FORMAL
1ST
2ND
3RD
1ST
2ND
3RD
2ND
NOMINATIVE 
ich
du
er / sie / es
wir
ihr
sie
Sie
ACCUSATIVE
mich
dich
ihn / sie / es
uns
euch
sie
Sie
DATIVE
mir
dir
ihm /   ihr / ihm
uns
euch
ihnen
Ihnen


German Pronoun Tables

Example sentences:

Nominative
Wir sehen einen Film. –We are watching a Movie.
The film is the direct object of the sentence and ‘we’ the subject are acting upon (doing) the verb.

Sie trinkt viel Wasser- She drinks a lot of water.
The water is the direct object and it is being acted upon by the subject ‘she’.

Accusative
Das Geschenk ist für dich – The present is for you.
You are receiving a present. “You” is being ‘verbed’.

Der Hund beißt mich - The dog bit me.
"Me" is being bitten (verbed)

Dative
Wie gehts dir?  – How are you? (How is it going FOR YOU?)

Wir backen euch einen Kuchen - We are baking a cake FOR YOU.

Der Lehrer stellt dir eine Frage – The teacher asked a question TO YOU.

The Cases
Bibliography

Peck, A. (1995). Mastering German. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan.

Ashworth-Fiedler, S. (1999). Beginner's German grammar. Lincolnwood (Chicago), Ill.: NTC/Contemporary Pub.

Macpherson, A. (n.d.). Deutsches Leben. Ginn and Company, pp.180,181,182.

Macpherson, A. (n.d.). Deutsches Leben. Ginn and Company, pp.180,181,182.

Fluentu.com. (2016). A Simple Introduction To German Nominative and Accusative Cases | FluentU German. [online] Available at: http://www.fluentu.com/blog/german/german-nominative-accusative-pronouns-cases-articles/ [Accessed 2 Aug. 2017].

German for English Speakers. (2017). Personal & Possessive Pronouns - German for English Speakers. [online] Available at: http://germanforenglishspeakers.com/pronouns/personal-possessive-pronouns/ [Accessed 2 Aug. 2017].

Germanlanguageguide.com. (2007). German Pronouns. [online] Available at: http://www.germanlanguageguide.com/german/grammar/pronouns.asp [Accessed 2 Aug. 2017].

Deutsch.lingolia.com. (2017). Accusative Declension of Pronouns - Lingolia German. [online] Available at: https://deutsch.lingolia.com/en/grammar/pronouns/declension/accusative [Accessed 2 Aug. 2017].

Nthuleen.com. (2017). Handout: Nominative, Accusative, and Dative: When to Use Them. [online] Available at: http://www.nthuleen.com/teach/grammar/nomakkdatexpl.html [Accessed 2 Aug. 2017].

Rösner, S. (2017). ME & YOU: “mir/dir” OR "mich/dich"?. [online] Blogs.transparent.com. Available at: http://blogs.transparent.com/german/me-you-%E2%80%9Cmirdir%E2%80%9D-or-michdich/ [Accessed 2 Aug. 2017].

Vistawide.com. (2004). German Grammar: The Dative Case - Grammatik der deutschen Sprache: Der Dativ. [online] Available at: http://www.vistawide.com/german/grammar/german_cases_dative.htm [Accessed 2 Aug. 2017].

Oxford Dictionaries | English. (2017). object pronoun - definition of object pronoun in English | Oxford Dictionaries. [online] Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/object_pronoun [Accessed 2 Aug. 2017].











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GERMAN PREPOSITIONS

GERMAN PREPOSITIONS A preposition is a word that shows the relationship of a noun or a pronoun to some other word in the sentence. Some examples of prepositions in German are  mit  (with),  durch  (through),  für  (for),  seit  (since).  The noun/pronoun which the preposition modifies will always be in either the accusative , dative or genitive case.  Most prepositions are placed before the noun/pronoun that they modify, however, some are placed after.  PREPOSITIONAL CASES There are three prepositional cases: accusative , dative , and genitive . There is also a group of prepositions that can take on either the accusative or dative case, depending on the meaning of the sentence. Commonly used prepositions such as  durch (through), für (for), um (around)  always take on the accusative , whereas other common prepositions such as  bei (by/next to), mit (with), von (from/of), zu (...
1 comment
Read more

Separable Verbs

Separable Verbs   In German, prefixes can be added to the start of  a verb,  in order to  change the verb’s meaning. These verbs  can  have inseparable prefixes, where the  prefix stays attached to the verb in all cases, or separable prefixes, where the prefix moves to the end of the sentence or phrase in some cases.    Present Tense   For  example,   in the sentence   ‘ Ich   sehe  sehr gut  aus ’    Aussehen is the verb, and since the sentence is in present tense, the prefix ‘aus’ is  moved to the very end of the sentence.   Another example is   ‘ Ich  trete   einem  Klub  bei ’   In this sentence ,  b e i treten  is the verb, and as it is in present tense, the prefix is  sent to the end of the sentence.    Past Perfect   In past perfect tense,  the prefix stays at the begin...
Post a Comment
Read more

NOUN GENDERS

Noun Genders in German In German nouns are divided into three different genders: Masculine, Feminine and Neuter. The definite article (the 'the' in English) has three different forms in German: 'der' for masculine words, 'die' for feminine words and 'das' for neuter words. For English speakers learning German, remembering noun genders is difficult because the genders aren’t always logical. Cutlery for example: There is ‘die Gabel’ (the fork), ‘der Löffel’ (the spoon) and ‘das Messer’ (the knife). English has genders for nouns as well, though they are obvious. In English, the gender is the actual gender of the noun. ‘Girl’ is a feminine word, ‘boy’ is masculine, and ‘table’ is neuter. This makes much more sense. A girl is female, a boy is male, and a table is an inanimate object. Sometimes inanimate objects will have a gender in English. For example, we often refer to boats and cars as ‘she’. In German, the definite article is used much m...
Post a Comment
Read more