Key pronouns and how they change by case
Key pronouns, especially personal pronouns, change based on grammatical case, which affects their form and role in a sentence. The main cases typically covered are nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object), and genitive (possession), though genitive is less commonly used in modern usage.
In English, these changes are relatively simple:
- Nominative (subject): I, you, he, she, it, we, they
- Accusative (object): me, you, him, her, it, us, them
- Possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her, its, our, their
- Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, its (rarely used), ours, theirs
For German pronouns, changes are more extensive according to case and gender:
- Nominative (subject): ich (I), du (you informal), er (he), sie (she), es (it), wir (we), ihr (you plural), sie (they), Sie (you formal)
- Accusative (direct object): mich (me), dich (you), ihn (him), sie (her), es (it), uns (us), euch (you all), sie (them), Sie (you formal)
- Dative (indirect object): mir (to/for me), dir (to/for you), ihm (to/for him/it), ihr (to/for her), uns (to/for us), euch (to/for you all), ihnen (to/for them), Ihnen (to/for you formal)
- Genitive (possession) forms exist but are rarely used; possessive adjectives are preferred instead.
Possessive pronouns in English are also case-sensitive, like my (adjective) vs. mine (pronoun). In German, possessive pronouns and adjectives change not only by case but also by gender and number of the noun they modify.
This overview gives a sense of how key pronouns vary according to grammatical case in both English and German, highlighting the additional complexity of German pronouns in their declension by case and gender. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5