Lesson 42 · German A1-2

Object Pronouns: ihn, ihm, sie, ihr

Personalpronomen im Akkusativ und Dativ

You already know mich/dich/uns from reflexive verbs (Lesson 28) and mir/dir/Ihnen from dative (Lesson 18). Today fills in the rest: how to say "him, her, it, them" without repeating the noun every time - exactly what fluent-sounding speech needs.

Today's win: correctly replace a previously-mentioned noun with an accusative or dative pronoun, matching its original gender.

Accusative pronouns (direct object)

erihn
sie (she)sie
eses
Ich habe einen Bruder. Ich sehe ihn oft. (der Bruder → ihn, matching masculine)

Dative pronouns (indirect object)

erihm
sie (she)ihr
esihm
Kannst du ihm helfen? (helfen always takes dative, Lesson 18)

Full table including all persons: Reference - Object Pronouns.

The pattern: pronoun gender matches the noun's original gender

Just like der/die/das tracks a noun's gender (Lesson 4), the pronoun that replaces it keeps that same gender - der Bruder is masculine, so it's replaced by ihn/ihm, never "es" or "sie," regardless of the person's actual sex if the noun happens to be grammatically different (as with das Mädchen, Lesson 4's trick example).

Try it out loud: mention one person or thing by name, then say a second sentence about them using only a pronoun instead of repeating the noun.

Quick recall check

1. "I see him." (accusative) - Ich sehe ______.

Show answer
ihn

2. "Can you help him?" (dative) - Kannst du ______ helfen?

Show answer
ihm

3. "I love her." (accusative) - Ich liebe ______.

Show answer
sie

4. Dative pronoun for "sie" (she)?

Show answer
ihr

5. What determines which pronoun replaces a noun - the noun's meaning or its grammatical gender?

Show answer
grammatical gender

Primary source

Cross-checked against the Goethe-Institut A1 practice materials.

Unsure which pronoun replaces a specific noun? Ask your teaching agent.

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