German grammar by topic › Du or Sie, and German pronouns, explained

Du or Sie, and German pronouns, explained

German has two words for “you”. Du (and ihr for several people) is for friends, family, children and, more and more, colleagues. Sie, always with a capital S, is for strangers, customers and anyone you'd address by their surname.

Pronouns change with the case, just like articles: ich, mich, mir; du, dich, dir; Sie, Sie, Ihnen.

The essentials

Sie takes the same verb form as sie (they): Kommen Sie aus Berlin?
When in doubt, start with Sie. The older person or the senior one usually offers du.
Accusative: mich, dich, ihn, sie, es, uns, euch, sie, Sie. Dative: mir, dir, ihm, ihr, ihm, uns, euch, ihnen, Ihnen.
Reflexive verbs take a pronoun that refers back to the subject: Ich freue mich. Er wäscht sich.
With a direct object, the reflexive pronoun moves to the dative: Ich wasche mir die Hände.

Every lesson on this topic

Each lesson has a full explanation, examples you can listen to, and exercises with answers.

A0 (the A0 course)

du, ihr or Sie: which you?: Informal du and ihr, polite Sie, and when to switch
I, you, he, she, it: personal pronouns: ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie, Sie

A1 (the A1 course)

Accusative pronouns: mich, dich, ihn: me, you, him, her, it, us, them: the object pronouns.
Dative pronouns: mir, dir, ihm: to me, to you, to him: and the verbs helfen, gefallen, gehören that always take them.

A2 (the A2 course)

Reflexive verbs: sich freuen, sich waschen: Verbs that take mich, dich, sich: daily routine, feelings and fixed partners
Reflexive pronouns in the dative: Ich wasche mir die Hände: mir and dir when the sentence already has an accusative object

In the app, these lessons are taught one idea at a time with audio, practised with questions that explain the rule when you slip, and brought back for review on later days.

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