Accusative Reflexive Pronouns   ♦   Dative Reflexive Pronouns   ♦   Possessive Pronouns   ♦   Relative Pronouns   ♦  Demonstrative Pronouns   ♦   Interrogative Pronouns

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Accusative Reflexive Pronouns

 

Reflexive pronouns might be a bit tricky to understand at first, but they are often used as part of a verb in order to ensure that the meaning is as specific as possible. For Germans, “ich wasche” (I wash / I’m washing) would be nowhere near enough to explain the act of washing oneself, even though an English speaker might ask themselves, “Well, what on earth else would I be washing if I didn’t specify?”

This is the reason for a variety of German verbs that we may not necessarily have direct English translations for, such as: “sich freuen” (to be glad) and “sich irren” (to be mistaken).

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Personal Pronoun	Reflexive Pronoun	Example Usage	English Translation
ich	mich	Ich wasche mich.	I wash myself.
du	dich	Du wäschst dich.	You wash yourself.
er	sich	Er wäscht sich.	He washes himself.
sie	sich	Sie wäscht sich.	She washes herself.
es	sich	Es wäscht sich.	It washes itself.
wir	uns	Wir waschen uns.	We wash ourselves.
ihr	euch	Ihr wascht euch.	You wash yourselves.
sie	sich	Sie waschen sich.	They wash themselves.
Sie	sich	Sie waschen sich.	You wash yourself.

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Using these verbs is not complicated, you just need to conjugate the verb as usual, and remember to include both the personal pronoun – ich / du / er / sie / es / wir / ihr / sie / Sie – and the corresponding reflexive pronoun – mich / dich / sich / sich / sich / uns / euch / sich / sich. The word order goes like this:

 

Er wäscht sich jeden Tag.

Jeden Tag wäscht er sich.

Wenn er sich wäscht, habe ich keinen Zutritt zum Bad.

 

As you can see, the reflexive part (in this case, “sich”) always follows the personal pronoun (here, “er”). The rest of the verb (wäscht) follows the same rules as normal; it always takes second position unless influenced by a conjunction such as “wenn”, which sends the verb to the end of the clause.

 

Aside from there being a set list of reflexive German verbs (obligatory reflexives – see below), you also have the option of making a lot of German verbs reflexive if you so wish. The general rule is that if a verb requires a subject and an object (a transitive verb), and there is no object given (i.e. the subject is both the subject and the object), then you must use a reflexive pronoun:

 

Der Mann hat den Hund verletzt. [Subject = der Mann , Object = den Hund]

Der Mann hat sich verletzt. [Subject = der Mann , Object = der Mann]

 

More on this topic can be found below. For now, have a look at the following list of common reflexive verbs that take accusative pronouns:

 

Open PDF

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Dative Reflexive Pronouns

 

Dative reflexive pronouns are pretty much the same as accusative reflexive pronouns, except the “I” and “you” forms change to “mir” and “dir“, respectively.

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Personal Pronoun	Reflexive Pronoun	Example Usage	English Translation
ich	mir	Ich kaufe mir ein Auto.	I buy myself a car.
du	dir	Du kaufst dir ein Auto.	You buy yourself a car.
er	sich	Er kauft sich ein Auto.	He buys himself a car.
sie	sich	Sie kauft sich ein Auto.	She buys herself a car.
es	sich	Es kauft sich ein Auto.	It buys itself a car.
wir	uns	Wir kaufen uns ein Auto.	We buy ourselves a car.
ihr	euch	Ihr kauft euch ein Auto.	You buy yourselves a car.
sie	sich	Sie kaufen sich ein Auto.	They buy themselves a car.
Sie	sich	Sie kaufen sich ein Auto.	You buy yourself a car.

 

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Sentences containing reflexive verbs taking a dative pronoun are formed the same way as those taking an accusative pronoun:

 

Ich kaufe mir ein neues Auto.

Welche Filme siehst du dir gerne an?

 

Below you will find a list of reflexive verbs that always take dative reflexive pronouns, but you can also choose to use dative pronouns with some of the reflexive verbs you learnt about in the accusative section above. When we use transitive verbs (verbs that require an object), and subject and object of the sentence are the same, we use accusative reflexive pronouns:

 

Ich wasche mich. [Subject = Ich , Object = Ich] – I wash myself.

Ich rasiere mich. [Subject = Ich, Object = Ich] – I shave.

 

However, if we add a different object we can also add a dative pronoun in order to make the sentence a bit more specific:

 

Ich wasche mir die Hände. [Subject = Ich , Object = die Hände] – I wash my hands.

Ich rasiere mir die Beine. [Subject = Ich , Object = die Beine] – I shave my legs.

 

As English speakers, we would tend to say something like “Ich rasiere meine Beine” because we’re forming the sentence according to the logic of our own language, but Germans use reflexive pronouns a lot more often than we would use words like “myself” and “himself”. It may feel strange at first, but if you’re talking about doing someone doing something to / for themselves or to / for someone else, try to say it using a dative reflexive pronoun.

 

Have a look at the list below for some common reflexive verbs that you can use to practice your dative pronouns!

Open PDF

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 Possessive Pronouns

 

The German possessive pronouns are : mein (my)  /  dein (your)  /  sein (his / its)  /  ihr (her)  /  unser (our)  /  euer (your pl.)  /  ihr (their)  /  Ihr (your pol.)

But as I’m sure you have already realized, nothing in German is ever that easy! These pronouns cannot be used in their basic form and must first be defined as either Independent or Dependent possessive pronouns.

 

Independent Possessive Pronouns:

 

Independent possessive pronouns are pronouns that, as their name suggests, are used on their own without a noun. Some examples of these would be:

 

“Wem gehört der Koffer?” – Das ist meiner. 

 

In English, we would just say “mine”, but in German you have to pay attention to the gender of the noun in question. “Koffer” in this case is masculine, and your reply is in the simple nominative case, so you say “meiner” and not just “mein“.

 

“Wessen Hund hast du gesehen?” – “Seinen!” [pointing to the male owner]

 

You saw “his” dog, which is the accusative case. Think about the full sentence: “I saw his dog”. I would be the subject and his dog would be the masculine object. That makes it seinen Hund.

 

Mit wessen Geld hast du deinen Computer gekauft?” – “(mit) Ihrem!” [pointing to parents]

 

This one’s a bit easier since there is a preposition – “mit” – in the question, and “mit” is always followed by the dative case in German. “Geld” is a neuter noun, so it’s “ihrem“.

 

See the table below for all possible genders and cases:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	meiner	meine	meins	meine
Accusative	meinen	meine	meins	meine
Dative	meinem	meiner	meinem	meinen

 

Dependent Possessive Pronouns:

 

Dependent possessive pronouns are where it gets a bit tricky. These pronouns take a noun – e.g. “my dog” – and can also take an adjective – “my big dog” – which means that both the pronoun and the adjective need to be declined according to the gender of the noun and the case of the sentence.

The good news is that dependent possessive pronouns and their adjectives are declined exactly the same way as indefinite articles – ein / eine / ein / keine. Open the table below to see the full breakdown.

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 Relative Pronouns

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 Demonstrative Pronouns

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 Interrogative Pronouns

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