German personal pronouns are a little more complicated than in English (no surprise there!). It can be tricky to get to grips with but learning the different forms is a vital step in learning the German language. The form that the German personal pronoun takes is dependant on the case of the sentence. The following table will show you which form fits with which case.
| Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genetive (posessive) | |
| ich | ich | mich | mir | mein |
| du | du | dich | dir | dein |
| er/sie/es | er/sie/es | ihn/sie/es | ihm/ihr/ihm | sein/ihr/sein |
| wir | wir | uns | uns | unser |
| ihr | ihr | euch | euch | euer |
| sie/Sie | sie/Sie | sie/Sie | ihnen/Ihnen | ihr/Ihr |
The Genetive case is virtually never used in a personal pronoun situation as the genetive case by it’s nature relates to possesion (whose…). Therefore the above table has the genetive case possesive pronouns instead of the German personal pronouns.
A Few Examples of the German Personal Pronoun
Lets have a look at some examples to help cement the idea of the German personal pronoun. We have put questions after the sentences to show you why the sentence is that specific case
The Nominative Case:
Du spielst heute Fussball. – You play football today – (Who plays football?)
Er singt ein Lied – He sings a song – (Who sings a song?)
The Accusative Case:
Ich sehe dich – I see you (who do I see?)
Ich liebe euch alle – I love you all – (who do I love?)
The Dative Case:
Ich gebe ihm einen Kuss – I give him a kiss – (Who did I give a kiss to?)
Ich helfe ihr beim Putzen – I help her to clean – (Who did I give help to?)
The Genetive Case (posessive):
Das ist mein Haus – that is my house – (Whose house is it?)
Das ist ihr Auto – that is her car – (Whose car is it?)
Oh the four cases,for me it’s the hardest thing about German grammar hehe xD.Especially when it comes to the forms of adjectives ^^.
I agree with Purple lover. I don’t kill myself over grammar since I’m a begginer but I really need more practice with adjectives (pronouns too, of course). I love these excercises and I think it really helps me with the this kind of grammar.
Me aswell. The German cases are definitely very difficult, even for us english speakers, who have so much in common with German. I agree with ZaghaftAni, I’m trying to approach it calmly and let it come with time:)