German Pronouns of the first person refer to the speaker; those of the second person refer to an addressed person. The pronouns of the third person may be used to replace nominal phrases. These have the same gender, number and case as the original nominal phrase. This goes for other pronouns, too. Template:Overwork imperative This article discusses the grammar of the German language, focusing on Standard German. ... A German noun has one of three specific grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and belongs to one of three declensions. ... German verbs may be classified as either weak, with a dental consonant inflection, or strong, showing a vowel gradation (ablaut). ... German articles have a feature called strength, which influences the declension of the adjectives. ... To correctly agree German adjectives, the case, number and gender of the nominal phrase must be considered along with the article of the noun. ... There are several different kinds of adverbial phrases in German. ... This is a paradigm of German verbs, that is, a set of conjugation tables, for the model regular verbs and for some of the most common irregular verbs. ... German sentence structure is somewhat more complex than in other languages, with phrases regularly inverted for both questions and subordinate phrases. ... Gender describes a classification using masculinity and femininity. ... In linguistics, the term grammatical number refers to ways of expressing quantity by inflecting words. ... In linguistics, declension is a feature of inflected languages: generally, the alteration of a noun to indicate its grammatical role. ...

pronoun position(s) selbst relative clause A relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun. ...

In German, a pronoun may have a position under certain circumstances. First and second person pronouns usually do not, except in poetical or informal contexts.

"Das im Schrank" (the thing in the cupboard)

"Das auf dem Tisch" (the thing on the table)

In today's German, pronouns are rarely used in the genitive case. Instead, a German user usually uses the corresponding possessive article (see German grammar#The genitive attribute). Template:Overwork imperative This article discusses the grammar of the German language, focusing on Standard German. ...

"Der Knochen des Hundes" - "Sein Knochen" or "Dessen Knochen" (the dog's bone, its bone)

In formal, archaic German, there are genitive objects, just like accusative and dative objects. Since the personal pronoun does not have a genitive form, the third person genitive plural of the possessive pronoun is applied in those cases. These forms are bracketed.

OLD: "Ich erinnere mich ihrer" (MODERN: "Ich erinnere mich an sie.") (I remember her)

OLD: "Ich erinnere mich seiner" (MODERN: "Ich erinnere mich an ihn.")

OLD: "Ich entsinne mich ihrer" (Don't use this) (I recall her)

The emphasizers "selber" and "selbst" have a slightly different meaning than if used with nominal phrases. They normally emphasize the pronoun, but if they are applied to a reflexive pronoun, they emphasize its reflexive meaning.

Personal pronouns

 1st sg 2nd sg 3rd sg 1st pl 2nd pl 3rd pl formal "I" "thou/you" "he" "she" "it" "we" "you" "they" "you" Nominative ich du er sie es wir ihr sie Sie Accusative mich dich ihn sie es uns euch sie Sie Dative mir dir ihm ihr ihm uns euch ihnen Ihnen Genitive mein(er) dein(er) sein(er) ihr(er) sein(er) unser euer ihrer Ihr 

The formal Sie is conjugated like "they".

"Ich rufe den Hund" - "Ich rufe ihn" (I call the dog - I call it)

The third person plural is used for formal speaking; it can address a single person (then capitalized in written German) as well as multiple persons.

"Ich grüße Sie" (Nice to see you (formal). Literally: I greet them)

Pronouns derived from articles

To replace a nominal by a pronoun that is derived from an article, you use the declined form corresponding to the gender, case and number of the nominal phrase. Note that instead of the genitive case, you often use a possessive article with the corresponding noun.

Although the pronoun form and the article form are the same in most cases, there are sometimes differences.

 Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural Nominative der das die die Accusative den das die die Dative dem dem der den Genitive des des der der 

Reflexive pronouns

There are also reflexive pronouns for the dative case and the accusative case. In the first and second person, they are the same as the normal pronouns, but they only become visible in the third person singular and plural. The third person reflexive pronoun for both plural and singular is: "sich":

"Er liebt sich" (He loves himself)

"Sie verstecken sich" (They hide)

Reflexive pronouns can be used not only for personal pronouns:

"Sie hat sich ein Bild gekauft" (She bought herself a picture)

"Seiner ist schon kaputt" (His is already broken)

Relative clause

A pronoun may have a relative clause under certain circumstances that still are to be explained. (See relative clauses).

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are used to refer to something already defined. Demonstratives are deictic words that indicate which entities a speaker refers to, and distinguishes those entities from others. ...

diese (this, the former) jene (that, the latter) erstere (the former)

Use ersterer to refer to masculine nouns; erstere otherwise

letztere (the latter)

Use letzterer to refer to masculine nouns; letztere otherwise

derjenige (the one)

Declined like [def. art] + [jenig-] + weak adj. ending

Used to identify a noun to be further identified in a relative clause.

derselbe (the same)

Declined like [def. art] + [selb-] + weak adj. ending

Used to indicate an identity stronger than der gleiche would.

See also

• German grammar