Personal Pronouns in German - Nominative and Accusative Case

Pronouns are words that replace nouns. They are nouns in that they indicate 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person, and they indicate number, i.e., singular or plural. And they stand for persons, places and things, like any noun/phrase. Pronouns just replace nouns that have been mentioned already in a conversation or text. Pronouns have an antecedent: the nouns that it refers to, the nouns that the pronoun replaces. Study the example conversation below:

A: Guten Tag, Frau Wagner. Wer ist das da drüben?
B: Hallo. Das ist die Katrina.
A: Kennen Sie die Katrina?
B: Ja, ich kenne sie.

The noun phrase die Katrina is feminine. In the first "B" line, it is feminine nomimative, in the second "A" line it is feminine accusative. And in the second "B" line, instead of saying Ja, ich kenne die Katrina, the speaker (or writer) replaces die Katrina with the pronoun sie, the 3rd person, feminien singular pronoun.

The pronouns in the nominative and accusative cases are listed below as follows, along with their English equivalents. Review the the nominative case and the accusative case before proceeding if you need to.

Nominative Accusative
1st-Person singular, ich, I mich, me
2nd-Person singular, informal du you dich, you
2nd-Person singular/plural, formal Sie, you Sie, you
3rd-Person singular, masculine er he, it ihn, him, it
3rd-Person singular, feminine sie, she, it sie, her, it
3rd-Person singular, neuter es, it es, it
1st-Person plural wir we uns, uns
2nd-Person plural, informal ihr you euch, you
3rd-Person plural sie, they sie, them

Notice the similarities with English pronouns. Notice also, that just as in the definite and indefinite articles, the masculine accusative changes while the feminine, neuter and plural forms do not.

Try the following exercise. You will see a series of short conversational exchanges whose last lines are missing. Choose from the right column the appropriate lines that would finish the conversation, then click the select button to see if you are correct. The noun phrases in red are the ones that will need replacement.


  1. A: Welche CD bringst du zur Geburtstagsparty?
    B: Ich bringe die neue CD von Herbert Grönemeyer.
    A: _____________________________________
  2. A: Kauft sie heute das Geschenk?
    B: ___________________________
  3. A: Warum willst du den Holger nicht einladen?
    B: ________________________________.
  4. A: Siehst du die Uhr da?
    B: ____________________________
  5. A: Warum hast du denn diese Bücher?
    B:___________________________________
  6. A: Hallo, Timo und Olga.
    B: Hallo.
    A: Nun, ich gebe am Sonntag eine Party. Meine Freundin hat Geburtstag.
    B: Tolle Idee.
    A: Ich will Euch einladen. Könnt ihr denn rüberkommen?
    B: ____________________________

Ich sehe sie nicht.

Ja, sie kauft es in der Stadt.

Prima, ich habe sie sehr gern.

Naja, wir kommen gerne.

Ich habe ihn nicht gern.

Ich möchte sie zu Brianne geben.

Conversational Exercise using nominative and accusative case pronouns.