Learn subject pronouns and distinguish du, ihr, sie and formal Sie.
Local saving is unavailable. You can keep practising, but progress may not remain after closing the page.
This lesson covers personal pronouns used as the subject, in the nominative. Instead of repeating the name Paul, you can use er. The pronoun also goes with a particular verb form: ich lerne, but wir lernen.
ich means I; wir means we, including the speaker and at least one other person. Use du to address one person informally and ihr to address more than one informally.
For a singular noun, its grammatical gender helps: der Tisch → er, die Lampe → sie, das Heft → es. Objects do not automatically take es. Use grammatical gender in German, not in the translation. In our examples about people: der Nachbar Paul → er, and die Nachbarin Lea → sie.
sie can mean she or they. The context and verb form help you distinguish them: Lea lernt → sie lernt; Lena und Tom lernen → sie lernen.
Formal Sie is capitalised and can address one or several people. Its verb form is the same as plural sie: Sie lernen. Ordinary sie is also capitalised at the start of a sentence, so an initial capital alone does not tell you the meaning. Check the context and verb.
| Pronoun | Use in this lesson |
|---|---|
| ich | I |
| du | you: one person, informal |
| er / sie / es | he / she / it: singular |
| wir | we |
| ihr | you: more than one person, informal |
| sie | they |
| Sie | you: formal, singular or plural |
Ich lerne Deutsch.
MeaningI am learning German.
Der Tisch ist neu. Er ist klein.
MeaningThe table is new. It is small.
Die Lampe ist neu. Sie ist klein.
MeaningThe lamp is new. It is small.
Das Heft ist neu. Es ist blau.
MeaningThe notebook is new. It is blue.
Lena und Tom, ihr lernt Deutsch.
MeaningLena and Tom, you are learning German.
Frau Neumann, wohnen Sie in Bonn?
MeaningMs Neumann, do you live in Bonn?
Choose one answer for immediate feedback and a brief explanation.
You have answered all ten exercises. Retry them to improve your score.
___ lerne Deutsch.
Correct answer: Ich
Why? The speaker uses ich. At the start of the sentence it is written Ich.
___ bist nett.
Correct answer: Du
Why? du addresses one person informally, and bist agrees with du.
___ wohnt in Köln.
Correct answer: Er
Why? der Nachbar Paul is masculine singular, so use er.
___ wohnt in Bonn.
Correct answer: Sie
Why? Lea is feminine singular. sie is written Sie at the start of this sentence; it is not formal address here.
Das Heft ist neu. ___ ist blau.
Correct answer: Es
Why? das Heft is neuter, so use es, written Es at the start of the sentence.
Paul und ich: ___ lernen Deutsch.
Correct answer: Wir
Why? The speaker together with another person uses wir. lernen agrees with wir.
Lena und Tom, ___ seid hier.
Correct answer: ihr
Why? ihr addresses more than one person informally, and its verb form here is seid.
Heute lernen ___ Deutsch.
Correct answer: sie
Why? Use plural sie for two people being spoken about. Capitalised Sie would be formal address.
Frau Neumann, haben ___ Zeit?
Correct answer: Sie
Why? Formal Sie is capitalised even in the middle of a sentence.
Die Tasche ist neu. Heute ist ___ hier.
Correct answer: sie
Why? die Tasche is feminine singular, so use sie even though it refers to an object.
Only this lesson’s progress was cleared.
Exercise progress stays in this browser only. No account and no answers sent to the server. Clearing browser data may remove it.
Explanations, examples and exercises were created for WikiGerman. An introduction to A1, not a complete course.
Content last reviewed: