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Beginners’ German: Places and people
Beginners’ German: Places and people

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2.3 Personal pronouns

In order to talk about yourself and other people you need the German for ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘it’ (personal pronouns).

  • ich – I

  • du – you (when talking to a close friend, a relative or a child)

  • er – he

  • sie – she

  • es – it

  • Sie – you (when talking to an adult who is not a very close friend or relative)

Note that sie with a small letter means ‘she’, whereas Siewith a capital letter means ‘you’.

Using kommen

While listening to the interviews you may have noticed the different forms of the verb kommen (to come). The form kommen – which is the one you will find in a dictionary – is called the infinitive. In the infinitive almost all German verbs end in –en, but when used in a sentence, –en is replaced by another ending depending on the person you are talking about. Here are the forms of kommen in the singular.

  • kommen

  • ich komme

  • du kommst

  • er, sie, es kommt

  • Sie kommen

Übung 13

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Übung 13
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Now fill in the gaps in the following quiz by dragging the different forms of kommen to their correct positions.

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Answer

These are the forms of kommen which fit into the sentences:

  1. Hallo, mein Name ist Marcos Schneider. – Hallo. Kommst du aus Deutschland?

  2. Ich komme aus Hahndorf im Barossa-Tal. Meine Familie kommt aus Deutschland.

  3. Woher kommen Sie? – Ich bin in Sibirien geboren, in Russland.

  4. Guten Tag, Herr Söder. Kommen Sie aus Norddeutschland? – Nein, ich kommeaus Dänemark.

  5. Woher kommen Sie? – Ich bin auch Deutscher, also Nationalität Deutsch.

Übung 14

Complete the sentences in this quiz with the grammatically correct personal pronouns.

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Answer

Here are the sentences with the correct personal pronouns:

  1. Hallo, mein Name ist Sam Schmidt – ich komme aus Namibia.

  2. Dein Deutsch ist perfekt! Kommst du aus Deutschland?

  3. Das ist Peter Neißendorfer – er kommt aus München.

  4. Das ist Claudia Grothe – sie kommt aus Norddeutschland.

  5. Frau Lengenfelder – kommen Sie hier aus München? Nein, ich komme aus Russland.