Personal pronouns
Pronouns change with case. Accusative: mich, dich, ihn, sie, es, uns, euch, sie/Sie. Dative: mir, dir, ihm, ihr, ihm, uns, euch, ihnen/Ihnen.
Understand the idea
A personal pronoun replaces a noun phrase, but its form still reflects the phrase's job. The same person can be ich as a subject, mich as an accusative object and mir as a dative object. Reference and case are separate decisions.
Build it step by step
First identify the person or thing the pronoun refers to. Then check whether the verb or preposition requires nominative, accusative or dative. Masculine inanimate nouns can be replaced by er, ihn or ihm: German follows grammatical gender, not the English habit of calling an object it.
See it in a sentence
Ich sehe ihn.
Kannst du mir helfen?
Quick reference
On a small screen, swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Person | Nominative | Accusative | Dative |
|---|---|---|---|
| I / me | ich | mich | mir |
| You · singular, informal | du | dich | dir |
| He / him | er | ihn | ihm |
| She / her | sie | sie | ihr |
| It | es | es | ihm |
| We / us | wir | uns | uns |
| You · plural, informal | ihr | euch | euch |
| They / them | sie | sie | ihnen |
| You · formal | Sie | Sie | Ihnen |
A useful memory aid
Use the three-case table below as a set of rows: ich–mich–mir, du–dich–dir, er–ihn–ihm. Practise one row in several sentences.
A common trap
Do not confuse sie with ihr. Sie can mean she, they or formal you depending on capitalization and context; ihr can be a dative pronoun, a subject pronoun or a possessive form.