7.10 Personal pronouns

Introduction

Pronouns are a set of short words which stand for or replac nouns or noun phrases. In particular they stand for nouns which have already been mentioned or which are so well to the speaker and the listener that they do not need to be repeated in full.

 

The so-called "personal" pronouns are used to refer to the speaker ("I", also called the first person), the person addressed ("you", also called the second person), and other persons or things which just happen to be mentioned ("he", "she", "it", also called the "third person").

 

These personal pronouns have distinct forms to indicate number, case and in the third person, gender. We have already met the nominative form of these personal pronouns in our verb tables; we can now add the accusative and the dative forms:

Comments

English speakers need to take particular care when translating the English pronoun it. As all German nouns have one of three genders, so too do pronouns - a masculine noun must therefore have a masculine pronoun regardless of whether it is a living thing or an inanimate object. For example:

 

Der Hund mag die Katze. Er mag die Katze.

(The dog likes the cat. It likes the cat.)

Die Katze mag den Hund. Sie mag den Hund.

(The cat likes the dog. It likes the dog.)

Hier ist das Pferd. Es heißt Shergar.

(Here is the horse. It is called Shergar.)

Hier ist der Kaffee. Er schmeckt gut.

(Here is the coffee. It tastes good.)