Another thing that’s important to know is that der and die can sound less personal and distant, while er and sie sound a bit more like people. So they wouldn’t sound wrong, they just sound quite weird in these examples above. The difference to das and es is that er and sie (and their case versions) are not quite as bland as es. This feels weird, and you’d use that instead because it can’t really handle that much focus.
— You are coming.ihr (dative of sie)her / to herIch gebe ihr das Buch. FormMeaningExamplesie (+ singular verb)she / it (feminine)Sie kommt. The table is masculine, so it gets the masculine pronoun.
I think the most important aspect is definitely the pointy-ness though and in the right context, that can be used to make your sentence less ambiguous. And in reverse, when talking about things, they still might use der or die, because er or sie feels a bit too much like a person. This is quite subtle, and it doesn’t always matter, but in some contexts, it can make a difference in tone.
Feminine Nouns → sie
Please note that in English we use the pronoun it when we talk about ‘objects’ which are not equivalent to people. If you have a noun with a feminine article (die) then the article and the noun can be replaced with sie. Adjust the playback speed for audio examples — still sounds fine down to about 70%. Here, “sie” would sound weird, and “die” doesn’t sound negative or distanced.
- A door (die Tür) is sie, not es.
- The table is masculine, so it gets the masculine pronoun.
- I had a period in my life where I knew many young people from Baden-Württemberg and they all did it.
- For me – American (and older) – pretty is feminine.
- Not in a sense that you’re ONLY doing one of those, but more in a sense of which of the two is more in focus?
- I re-read the 1st sentence and the 2nd.
Why Do Germans Say “sie” for So Many Things?
But it does have that definite-article-for-talking-about-people thing! Not in a sense that you’re ONLY doing one of those, but more in a sense of which of the two is more in focus? I can’t feel it at all either. Hi Emmanuel, thanks a lot for this article, I am trying to get to B2 and this topic is for me particularly confusing.
Ob der da ist oder nicht ist mir total egal. But using ‘der’ or ‘die’ can sound a bit distant or dismissive compared to ‘er’ or ‘sie’. ‘der’ and ‘die’ are more pointy and work nicely in sentence-initial spots.
In writing this is clear; in speech, context does the work. Casesie (they)Sie (you formal)NominativesieSieAccusativesieSieDativeihnenIhnen Only capitalization and context distinguish them.
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Confusing sie (she) with sie (they). Der Rock (the skirt) is masculine, so it is er. Das Mädchen (the girl) is neuter because of the diminutive suffix -chen, so grammatically it is es, not sie.
- And please do make a quiz or exercise about this topic!
- I didn’t know about this “pretty” vs “handsome” and I’m not sure it’s consensus in English.
- The critical difference is the “Used for” column.
- In writing this is clear; in speech, context does the work.
- — She is coming.sie (+ plural verb)theySie kommen.
- So they wouldn’t sound wrong, they just sound quite weird in these examples above.
A door (die Tür) is sie, not es. So far we have looked at er/sie/es as subjects (nominative case). Context is powerful, and with practice, you will develop the same instinct. In written German, Sie with a capital S always means the formal “you.” Lowercase sie means “she,” “it,” or “they.”
“das ist” or “es ist” aphrodite casino – learners often wonder about the difference and the German way of doing it is a little different than English. My handmade dictionary for learners – meanings, word families, examples and all without AI slop.