3rd person pronouns

German Third Person Pronouns: er, sie, es

In German, the third person pronouns er (he), sie (she), and es (it) do more than just replace people. Their most important rule is that they must agree with the grammatical gender of the noun they refer to, regardless of whether that noun is a person, an animal, or an object.

1. Agreement with Grammatical Gender

While English uses "it" for almost all inanimate objects, German uses er for masculine nouns, sie for feminine nouns, and es for neuter nouns. This means "it" can be translated in three different ways:

• Masculine (der): Dein Rock? Ach, er lag vorhin auf dem Tisch. (Your skirt? Oh, it was lying on the table earlier.)
• Feminine (die): Er hörte meine Meinung und stimmte ihr bei. (He heard my opinion and agreed with it.) [Note: Meinung is feminine, and ihr is the dative form of sie].
• Neuter (das): Darf ich Ihr Buch noch eine Woche behalten? Ich habe es noch nicht gelesen. (May I keep your book for another week? I haven't read it yet.)

2. Grammatical vs. Natural Gender

When grammatical gender and natural gender conflict (for example, das Mädchen / the girl), German grammar rules usually dictate the pronoun choice. However, in extended discourse, speakers sometimes switch to the natural gender once the grammatical connection feels more distant.

3. Colloquial Use of Demonstrative Pronouns

In informal, spoken German, people often replace er, sie, es with the demonstrative pronouns der, die, das. While very common, this is considered "substandard" or slang and is generally avoided in formal writing. Using these pronouns for a person who is currently present can even be seen as rude.

• Colloquial: Der kommt wohl nicht mehr. (He probably isn't coming anymore.) - [Instead of: Er kommt wohl nicht mehr.]
• Colloquial: Ich hätt’ die nicht wieder erkannt. (I wouldn't have recognized her.) - [Instead of: ...sie nicht wieder erkannt.]

However, these demonstratives are useful for emphasis or to avoid ambiguity when there are multiple subjects:

Sie hatte diesen Fernsehanstalten massiv unter Druck gesetzt, als die sich in Gibraltar umtaten. (She had put massive pressure on these TV stations when they were active in Gibraltar.) - [Using die clarifies that "they" refers to the stations, not another group].

4. Pronouns in Comparative Clauses

German often uses third person pronouns in clauses introduced by wie (like/as) to explicitly state what is being compared. This clarifies the relationship between the noun and the action.

• Das waren Reichtümer, wie sie Fürsten nicht besaßen. (Those were riches such as [literally: like they] princes did not possess.)
• Ein Kuchen, wie ihn deine Mutter backt, ist was Besonderes. (A cake like the one [literally: like him] your mother bakes is something special.)