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Grammar notes

German personal pronouns change form depending on their case. The case is determined by the verb: some verbs take a direct object (accusative), others take an indirect/dative object (dative).

Person Nominativ Dativ Akkusativ
I ich mir mich
you (sg.) du dir dich
he er ihm ihn
she sie ihr sie
it es ihm es
we wir uns uns
you (pl.) ihr euch euch
they sie ihnen sie
you (formal) Sie Ihnen Sie

A few things to notice:

  • wir and ihr use the exact same form for dative and accusative (uns, euch) — no distinction to worry about there.
  • es doesn't stay es in the dative — it becomes ihm, the same as the masculine form.
  • sie (she) and sie (they) look identical in the nominative and accusative, but differ in the dative: ihr (her) vs. ihnen (them).
  • The formal Sie/Ihnen is always capitalized, in any position in the sentence.

Most verbs (sehen, kennen, lieben, fragen, besuchen, verstehen) take the accusative. A smaller group of common verbs takes the dative instead and simply has to be memorized: helfen, danken, glauben, gefallen, folgen, gehören, passen, gratulieren.

Personal Pronouns: Dative and Accusative 1 / 18

Ich danke  , Frau Schmidt.