21 Section 2-6
2.6: Accusative Personal Pronouns
In Chapter 1, you learned the nominative case personal pronouns.
|
ich—I |
wir—we |
|
du—you (familiar) |
ihr—you (plural, familiar); y’all |
|
er—he sie—she es—it |
sie—they Sie—you (formal) |
In this chapter, you will learn the accusative case personal pronouns. To better understand the difference between nominative and accusative pronouns, we will compare them to English. In English, we switch between nominative (subject) and accusative (direct object) pronouns all the time without realizing it. For example, we know when to use “I” and when to use “me.”
|
Nominative/subject |
Accusative/direct object |
|
I |
me |
|
you |
you |
|
he |
him |
|
she |
her |
|
we |
us |
|
they |
them |
Here are the German equivalents in the chart below.
|
ich—mich |
wir—uns |
|
du—dich |
ihr—euch |
|
er—ihn sie—sie (no change) es—es |
sie—sie (no change) Sie—Sie (no change) |
The trick is knowing when to use which word. Whenever you want to refer to the subject of a sentence, use the nominative.
Nominative Examples:
Der Pulli hat viele Farben. (The pullover has many colors).
Er hat viele Farben. (It has many colors).
Willi und ich brauchen Geld. (Willi and I need money).
Wir brauchen Geld. (We need money.)
Accusative Examples:
Timo kennt Nathan Chen. (Timo knows Nathan Chen).
Timo kennt ihn. (Timo knows him.)
Ich sehe meine Eltern. (I see my parents.)
Ich sehe sie. (I see them.)
By using both nominative and accusative pronouns, it makes your German sound more natural.
A: Kennst du meinen Cousin?
B: Sebastian? Ja, ich kenne ihn!
Instead of constantly repeating the word “Cousin,” we replace it with “ihn” (him).
Video: Watch Easy German’s video to see a review of both nominative and accusative personal pronouns.
Ex. B: Wen oder was kennst du? You can use the verb kennen to say that you know someone or are familiar with a person, city, book, or film. Using the verb kennen and accusative pronouns, answer the following questions with a partner.
Beispiel: Daniel Radcliffe
A: Kennst du Daniel Radcliffe?
B: Ja, ich kenne ihn.
ODER
B: Nein, ich kenne ihn nicht.
(Put nicht after the direct object)
- Madonna
- Vladimir Putin
- die Gruppe BTS
- Helen Hunt
- Harry Styles
- Florence, Alabama
- Das Boot
- Frau Doktor Vance
- Bettina Matthias
Deutsche Musik: Listen to Blümchen’s hit from the 90s, Er liebt mich, to hear examples of accusative pronouns in the lyrics.
Songtext: https://genius.com/Blumchen-er-liebt-mich-lyrics
Ex. C: Nicos Weg. Episode 17: Ich war schon in Berlin. Watch the video and do the online activities.
https://learngerman.dw.com/en/ich-war-schon-in-berlin/l-37325550.
Ex. D: Nicos Weg. Episode 18: Wo liegt das? Watch episode 18 and do the online activities. In this video, you will learn about directions.
https://learngerman.dw.com/en/wo-liegt-das/l-37337877.
Listen to Trio’s hit song, Da da da, from the 1980s to hear examples of direct object pronouns:
Ex. E: Sie haben das Wort! Finish each conversation. Don’t forget to use at leaset two stem-changing verbs and at least one accusative preposition.