2. What are Pronouns?
• Read the dialogue below:
Anna: Do you know my brother, Axel?
Hans: Yes, I know Axel! I lent Axel my book.
Anna: Axel told me. I read that book last week.
Hans: That’s great! I like that book.
• Which nouns (people, places, or things)
appear more than once in this dialogue?
3. What are Pronouns?
Anna: Do you know my brother, Axel?
Hans: Yes, I know Axel! I lent Axel my book.
Anna: Axel told me. I read that book last week.
Hans: That’s great! I like that book.
• Pronouns are words that stand in for nouns
that have already been mentioned in a
conversation. Think about how this
conversation could be made less repetitive...
4. What are Pronouns?
Anna: Do you know my brother, Axel?
Hans: Yes, I know him! I lent him my book.
Anna: He told me. I read it last week.
Hans: That’s great! I like it.
5. What are Pronouns?
• In English, there are six categories of pronouns (see
English Grammar for Students of German page 23):
– There are singular pronouns (that refer to only one person
or thing) and plural pronouns (that refer to multiple
people or things).
– Pronouns are also divided by person:
• First person refers to the person who is talking (either
just the one person, I, or the person who is talking and
a group that he or she is included in, we).
• Second person refers to the person or people who are
being talked to, you or you all/ you guys.
• Third person refers to the person or people or thing or
things that are being talked about (he, she, it, or they).
6. What are Pronouns?
Singular Plural
1st Person I we
2nd Person you you (you guys, you all)
3rd Person he / she / it they
Singular Plural
1st Person ich wir
2nd Person du (Sie)* ihr (Sie)*
3rd Person er / sie / es sie
*The words du and ihr are the informal forms of address, and the word Sie is
used in formal situations for both singular and plural.
7. German Pronouns:
some things to know
• There are three ways to express the word you in German:
– Du refers to one person. It is informal (i.e., you can use it
to address classmates, friends, or family members).
– Ihr refers to more than one person. It is also informal.
– Sie can be plural or singular, but it is formal (i.e., you use it
to address people in formal situations, like a boss or a
professor).
• The third-person plural pronoun in English is they. Its German
equivalent is sie. The formal word for you, however is also
Sie, written with a capital S.
– For more information about du, ihr, and Sie, see pages 10-
11 in Berliner Platz Neu, and pages 24-25 in English
Grammar for Students of German.
8. German Pronouns:
some things to know
• In English, we use the gendered pronouns he and she
to refer only to people. When we talk about
inanimate objects, we use the neuter pronoun it.
• In German, since all nouns have gender (i.e., der
Computer is masculine, das Haus is neuter, and die
Sprache is feminine), we use gendered pronouns to
refer to them:
– Der Computer ist neu. Er ist fantastisch.
– Das ist mein Haus. Es ist schön.
– Ich lerne eine neue Sprache. Sie ist interessant.
9. Pronomen: jetzt sind Sie dran!
• Fill in the blanks with the correct third-person
pronoun.
1. -Wie ist deine Adresse?
-_____ ist Schmidtstraße 22.
Sie
2. Hans hat ein neues Handy. _____ ist sehr
Es
klein.
3. -Wie heißt der Ort?
-_____ heißt Hamburg.
Er
10. Why is Person important?
• The subject is the person or thing who is
doing the action (the verb) in the sentence.
• The verb is conjugated (its ending is changed)
to agree with the person of the subject.
That’s the difference between
I go (first person singular) and he goes (third person singular)
• To read more about conjugating verbs, see
pages 29 and 46 in English Grammar for
Students of German.
11. Conjugating Verbs
• When you look up verbs, you’ll find the
infinitive form. They end with –en. In English,
infinitive forms look like this:
English German
to come kommen
to ask fragen
to hear hören
to drink trinken
to write schreiben
12. Conjugating Verbs
• To conjugate a German verb, remove the infinitive
suffix (-en). What’s left is called the stem.
• Look at the subject (who or what is VERB-ing?) and
figure out its number (singular or plural?) and its
person (1st, 2nd, or 3rd?).
one person = singular
the person who’s talking = 1st person
• Then choose the correct suffix that agrees with the
subject, and add it to the stem.
13. Conjugating Verbs
Singular Plural
1st Person ich komm - e wir komm - en
2nd Person du komm - st ihr komm - t
3rd Person er / sie / es komm - t sie komm - en
• Once again, to conjugate the verb:
– Figure out the verb stem.
– Figure out number and person of the subject.
– Choose the correct suffix and add it to the stem.
one person = singular
the person who’s talking = 1st person
14. Conjugating Verbs
• Even though the pronoun Sie (you formal) is a
second-person pronoun, verbs are conjugated
like the third-person plural (sie, which means
they).
Singular Plural
1st Person ich komm - e wir komm - en
2nd Person du komm - st ihr komm - t
3rd Person er / sie / es komm - t sie komm - en
• Formal form of address:
– Woher kommen Sie? Wie heißen Sie?
15. Conjugating Verbs
• Conjugate the verbs in parentheses to fill in
the blank in each sentence:
heiße
1. Ich ___________ (heißen) Susanna, und
heißen
meine zwei Brüder ___________ (heißen)
Mark und Hans.
kommt
2. Hans ___________ (kommen) aus Wien,
Österreich.
trinken
3. Ich und mein Freund ___________ (trinken)
zusammen Kaffee. Careful! Ich + mein Freund = wir
(just like in English, I + another
person = we)
16. Conjugating Verbs: Exceptions
• Some verbs are conjugated differently because they
contain sounds that ‘clash’ with the conjugation
suffixes.
• For example, the verb heißen (to be called) has a
stem that ends with an ‘s’ sound, so it ‘clashes’ with
the du suffix (-st). Because of that, heißen and other
verbs whose stems end in ‘s’ are conjugated like this:
Singular Plural
1st Person ich heiß - e wir heiß - en
2nd Person du heiß - t ihr heiß - t
3rd Person er / sie / es heiß - t sie heiß - en
17. Conjugating Verbs: Exceptions
• Some verbs are conjugated differently because they
contain sounds that ‘clash’ with the conjugation suffixes.
• For example, the verb antworten (to answer) has a stem
that ends with a ‘t’ sound, so it ‘clashes’ with the du
suffix (-st), the er/sie/es suffix (-t), and the ihr suffix (-t).
Because of that, antworten and other verbs whose stems
end in ‘t’ or ‘d’ are conjugated like this:
Singular Plural
1st Person ich antwort - e wir antwort - en
2nd Person du antwort – e - st ihr antwort – e - t
3rd Person er / sie / es antwort – e- t sie antwort - en
18. Conjugating Verbs: Exceptions
• Some verbs, such as nehmen (to take) and sprechen
(to speak) have stems that change vowels. Their
suffixes for conjugation are normal, but their stems
change in the du and er/sie/es forms:
Singular Plural
1st Person ich nehm - e wir nehm - en
2nd Person du nimm - st ihr nehm - t
3rd Person er / sie / es nimm - t sie nehm - en
Singular Plural
1st Person ich sprech - e wir sprech - en
2nd Person du sprich - st ihr sprech - t
3rd Person er / sie / es sprich - t sie sprech - en
19. Conjugating Verbs: Exceptions
• The verb form möchten (would like) is part of
a special set of verbs that you will learn more
about later. Möchten and verbs like it have
the same conjugation suffixes for ich and for
er/sie/es.
Singular Plural
1st Person ich möcht - e wir möcht - en
2nd Person du möcht - st ihr möcht - t
3rd Person er / sie / es möcht - e sie möcht - en
20. Conjugating Verbs: Exceptions
• Two of the most common verbs in German (haben,
‘to have’, and sein, ‘to be’) just plain don’t conjugate
like you expect them to. We use them frequently
enough that it is a good idea to memorize their
forms.
Singular Plural
1st Person ich habe wir haben
2nd Person du hast ihr habt
3rd Person er / sie / es hat sie haben
Singular Plural
1st Person ich bin wir sind
2nd Person du bist ihr seid
3rd Person er / sie / es ist sie sind
21. Conjugating Verbs
• Read the dialogue between Hans and Anna, and conjugate the verbs in
parentheses. Remember, most verbs follow the same pattern as you
learned for ‘kommen’.
heißt
Hans: Guten Tag! Mein Name ist Hans. Wie _____________ (heißen) du?
heiße kommst
Anna: Ich _____________ (heißen) Anna. Woher _____________ (kommen)
du, Hans?
komme
Hans: Ich _____________ (kommen) aus Wien, in Österreich, aber ich
_____________ (wohnen, to live) in Berlin.
wohne
machst
Anna: Wie schön! Und was _____________ (machen, to do) du in Berlin?
studieren
Hans: Mein Bruder und* ich _____________ (studieren) beide hier an der
Freien Universität.
studiert
Anna: Wie interessant! Und was _____________ (studieren) ihr?
studiere
Hans: Ich _____________ (studieren) Psychologie, und mein Bruder Mark
studiert
_____________ (studieren) Medizin.
studiere
Anna: Ich _____________ (studieren) auch Psychologie! Welche Kurse
nimmst
_____________ (nehmen) du?
