German personal pronouns A2: three cases
CEFR A2
What you will learn
- Recognise the pattern taught in “German personal pronouns A2: three cases” in a short example.
- Choose the appropriate form from “German personal pronouns A2: three cases” using explicit evidence.
- Apply and justify the rule from “German personal pronouns A2: three cases” in a new case.
The idea
The person stays the same, but form changes with the case required by function, verb or preposition.
Nominative normally marks the subject; accusative marks many direct objects and the government of prepositions such as für or ohne; dative marks certain recipients, participants selected by verbs such as helfen, and the government of mit or bei. A human referent does not determine case by itself.
Learn each series vertically. ich changes to mich and mir; du to dich and dir; er to ihn and ihm; singular sie keeps sie in the accusative and uses ihr in the dative; es keeps es and uses ihm; wir has uns in both cases; ihr has euch in both; plural sie keeps sie and uses ihnen; formal Sie keeps Sie and uses Ihnen. Capitalisation is part of the formal forms.
When a pronoun replaces a noun phrase, it keeps its function and case: Ich sehe den Fahrer → Ich sehe ihn; Ich helfe dem Fahrer → Ich helfe ihm. Do not choose by isolated translation. With two objects, pronouns commonly precede noun phrases; if both are pronouns, accusative commonly precedes dative: Ich gebe es ihm. This order tendency does not change the forms.
Reflexive pronouns partly coincide, but form a different paradigm from the third person onwards with sich. Do not merge the two tables.
pronombres tres casos
| elemento | forma |
|---|---|
| 1 | ich · mich · mir |
| 2 | du · dich · dir |
| 3 | er · ihn · ihm |
| 4 | sie (singular) · sie · ihr |
| 5 | es · es · ihm |
| 6 | wir · uns · uns |
| 7 | ihr · euch · euch |
| 8 | sie (plural) · sie · ihnen |
| 9 | Sie · Sie · Ihnen |
How it sounds
- Die Lehrerin kennt uns.uns replaces a plural direct object: accusative.
- Kannst du ihr antworten?antworten governs dative; singular sie becomes ihr.
- Ich schicke es Ihnen morgen.es is neuter accusative and Ihnen is formal dative.
Your turn
Two or three, to check that the bit above landed.
Der Arzt untersucht Paul. Der Arzt untersucht ___.
ihn — Paul is the masculine direct object of untersuchen; er becomes accusative ihn.
Die Jacke gehört Lara. Die Jacke gehört ___.
ihr — gehören governs dative and Lara corresponds to singular sie: ihr.
Frau Reuter, ich sende ___ die Datei heute.
Ihnen — The formal recipient is dative Ihnen, capitalised; die Datei is the thing sent.
When it doesn't hold
What breaks the rule, said out loud. Hiding it is what makes you feel cheated in the exam.
- es can be subject or object and never changes shape.Es regnet. – Ich sehe es.
- After a preposition the preposition decides, not the verb.Das ist für dich.
- For things you do not use a pronoun after the preposition but da- joined to it.Ich warte darauf.
What your own language pushes you to say
Wrong Das ist für ich.
Right Das ist für dich.
English uses one object form for everything, so the subject pronoun gets carried over after a preposition. German prepositions choose a case, and fuer always takes the accusative.