Pronouns
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I, you, he, she, it, we, they — the complete list. Du, ihr and Sie all become "you", and things carry no gender.
The English subject pronouns are I, you, he, she, it, we and they. They sit before the verb and say who does the action. "You" covers du, ihr and Sie at once; things and companies are always "it".
Updated: July 2026
A1 · Pronouns · 8 min
A structured ten-slide lesson for A1 learners. Hear the pronouns in context, meet the seven forms with a human tutor, then practise them across six interactive drills before a final six-question quiz. The whole arc takes about eight minutes and nothing requires a signup.
Subject pronouns are the small words that take the role of the doer in a sentence: I, you, he, she, it, we, they. In English they sit directly before the verb, because English word order is far more rigid than German. A German sentence can happily open with an object or a time phrase; an English sentence keeps subject–verb–object almost untouchable: I will call tomorrow. Just as important: English almost never drops the subject. Languages like Spanish or Italian can leave the pronoun out entirely, and colloquial German sometimes does too — but an English sentence wants its pronoun spelled out: I'm coming. Master these seven words and you can immediately build complete English sentences, which is why they sit at the very start of every learning path. This lesson walks you through the forms, their German equivalents, and the two places where German habits pull you off course: grammatical gender and the formal address.
The list is short: I, you, he, she, it, we, they. Two features deserve immediate attention. First, I is always written with a capital letter, even mid-sentence — my boss and I. That is not a politeness form; it is simply a fixed spelling rule of English. Second, English has exactly one word of address. German du, ihr and Sie all merge into you, and there is no formal pronoun you could pick wrongly. Politeness lives elsewhere: in tone, in word choice, and in frames like could you or would you mind. For most German speakers this is a genuine relief — the whole question of formal versus informal address simply does not exist in English. The one thing to watch: when translating an email, do not let a capitalised German Sie pull you towards they or she. Whenever you address someone directly, the word is you, full stop.
The single biggest shift from German: English nouns have no grammatical gender. Der Tisch, die Lampe, das Auto — in English they are all simply it. The same goes for abstract things such as ideas, projects and contracts, and — crucially for the workplace — for companies: The company is growing. It has a new office. Because die Firma is feminine in German, learners often let a she slip out here; to an English ear that makes the company sound like a person. It also works as an "empty" subject: It's raining, It's five o'clock, It's important. Since English cannot drop the subject, it steps in wherever German says es or rebuilds the sentence. The rule of thumb: if you are not talking about a person — or a well-loved pet that has earned a name and a he or she — reach for it.
They starts life as the plain plural — for people and for things alike: My colleagues are here. They start at nine. The reports are ready. They are on your desk. In workplace English, they shows up in two more places. First, groups: when you talk about your team or your clients as people, they is the natural choice — Our clients are happy. They renewed the contract. In British English you will even hear The company say they will deliver on Friday, treating the firm as a group of human beings. Second, so-called singular they: when you do not know who somebody is — or their gender simply is not the point — they is today's standard neutral form: Someone called. They left a message. This is modern mainstream English, completely normal in business emails, and far more natural than the clunky he or she.
The classic mistakes German speakers make with subject pronouns almost all follow one pattern: the grammatical gender of the German noun gets carried into English. Die Firma turns into she ("The company… she is very successful"), der Vertrag becomes he. The fix is always the same: it. The second classic is the small i: because German ich is lowercase, emails keep sprouting "i will send it" — a small slip, but one that instantly looks unprofessional to English readers. Third, the formal Sie tempts translators into they or she: Können Sie mir helfen? is Can you help me?, not Can they help me? Finally, word order: after a fronted time phrase, the pronoun stays before the verb — Tomorrow I will call you, never "Tomorrow will I call you". Four patterns, one antidote: for every sentence, pause and ask who or what the subject actually is.
In the workplace, subject pronouns work harder than you might expect. Introducing your company means constantly switching between we (the team you belong to), it (the firm as an organisation) and they (clients, partners, other departments): We build software. The company was founded years ago, and it now has forty employees. Our clients love the product — they renew every year. Address deserves a moment too: since you covers both du and Sie, politeness in English travels through other channels. First names are normal in international teams and not at all rude, while respect is carried by frames like Could you… or Would you mind… and a friendly tone. Coming from German, you can relax: with only one word of address, you cannot accidentally be over-familiar by picking the wrong pronoun. Spend that saved attention on a clean it for companies and projects — that is the detail native speakers notice immediately.
You don't — and that is the good news. English has exactly one pronoun of address: you. It covers du, ihr and Sie all at once, and there is no formal pronoun you could pick wrongly. Politeness comes from tone and phrasing instead: "Could you send me the file?" is formal enough for any business email. Just make sure the capitalised German Sie doesn't trick you into they or she when translating — whenever you address someone directly, the word is you.
Because English nouns have no grammatical gender. Die Firma is feminine in German, but in English a company is a thing — and things are it: "The company is very successful. It was founded in 1990." A she makes the company sound like a person to English ears. The same rule covers every object and idea: der Tisch, die Lampe, das Projekt — all it. He and she are reserved for people.
Yes — so-called singular they is standard today. When you don't know who somebody is, or their gender isn't the point, you say: "Someone called. They left a message." or "If a customer complains, they get a refund." This isn't a recent fashion either: English has used they in such sentences for centuries, and in modern business emails it is the most natural choice — far more elegant than the clunky "he or she".
Both — depending on the variety. American English usually treats group nouns like team, company or staff as singular: "The team is winning." British English additionally allows the plural when the group is thought of as people: "The team are winning." / "The company say they will deliver on Friday." Both are understood worldwide. Exam boards such as Cambridge and IELTS treat the British pattern as the standard, so for European certifications the British convention is the safe choice.
Subject pronouns are the very first grammar brick: without them you cannot build a complete English sentence, so this lesson assumes no prior knowledge. The natural next step is *object-pronouns* (A1) — me, you, him, her, it, us, them — because many errors happen exactly at the border between "I" and "me". After that come *possessive-adjectives-pronouns* (A1) with my, your, his and her, and later the *reflexive-pronouns* (A2) such as myself and yourself.
Yes. Into the early modern period, English distinguished thou (familiar, singular — like du) from you (plural and respectful address — like Sie). You may know thou from Shakespeare or the Bible: "Thou shalt not…". Over time the polite you crowded the familiar thou almost completely out of everyday speech; it survives mainly in older texts and some northern English dialects. Strictly speaking, modern English addresses everyone with the old polite form — which is why it no longer needs a separate formal pronoun.
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