Finding the Subject Pronoun In German

Before you can form sentences with verbs in German, you will have to know something about subject pronouns. A subject pronoun is, as its name suggests, the subject of a sentence; the verb must agree with it (grammatically speaking, that is, in person and number - we all know verbs don't have opinions of their own).

The German subject pronouns in the following table have a person (the first person is "I", the second person is "you" and the third person is "he", "she" or "it" etc.) just as subject pronouns do in English, and in number (singular or plural).

Subject Pronouns

Case
Singular
English
Plural
English
First
ich
iH
I
wir
veer
we
Second
du
dew
you
ihr
eer
you
Formal
Sie
zee
you


Third
er, sie, es
eR, zee, es
he, she, it
sie
zee
they


Finding the Subject

To express what people want to do, you need verbs, and verbs, of course, require a subject:


  • You want to take quiet, relaxing strolls through churches and parks.
  • The woman wants to spend three days shopping.

When a sentence takes the imperative form (the form of a command) the subject (you) is understood.

  • Go shopping.

Subjects can either be nouns or pronouns that replace nouns:

  • The man ate the entire chicken.
  • He ate the entire chicken.

Tip: Unlike German nouns, which are capitalized no matter where they appear in a sentence, most pronouns take a capital letter only when they begin a sentence. The only exception to this rule is the pronoun Sie (the polite form for du and ihr ), which is capitalized no matter where it appears in a sentence.

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