GermanFluent

A1 · Personal pronouns

du / Sie

Polite you, capitalised Sie with the verb in the -en form

FormSie (Position 1 or 3) + Verb in der -en-Form (Position 2)

Meaning and usage

Sie is the polite way to address one person or several. It is always written with a capital letter, and the verb takes the same ending as wir and as sie meaning they: Sie kommen, Sie haben, Sie sind. Use it with strangers, in shops, at offices and with anyone you would address formally.

The verb comes in position two, so in a question with a question word it follows that word: Wann geben Sie mir das Buch zurück?. In a yes or no question it comes first: Haben Sie Fragen?. Learners often write sie with a small letter, which then reads as she or they, and they sometimes use the du verb form with Sie, as in Sie kommst.

Examples 6

Test yourself

  1. 1 Sprachbausteine

    Frau Weber, wann Sie morgen an?

    Show answer

    Correct answer: kommen

    Sie is the polite form and takes the verb ending -en, so kommen is the only form that fits. The name Frau Weber shows that the polite form is needed.

    • kommt The ending -t belongs to er, sie or es, not to the polite Sie.
    • kommst The ending -st belongs to du, which does not match the polite Sie in this sentence.
    • komme The ending -e belongs to ich, not to the polite Sie.

In this topic: Personal pronouns

  1. ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they
  2. du / Sie Polite you, capitalised Sie with the verb in the -en form
  3. der Tisch → er er, sie, es replace a thing by its gender
  4. mich, dich, ihn me, you, him as the one acted on
  5. mir, dir, ihm to me, to you, to him: the person who gets something
  6. helfen, gefallen + Dativ help, please, belong to, taste, thank, answer + dative
  7. es gibt + Akkusativ there is, there are
  8. Ich gebe es dir. When both objects are pronouns, the accusative comes first

Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.