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Accusative Pronouns in German

☰ List of all topics in the level A1

Level A1 Introduction Unit 1 Alphabet and pronunciation Unit 2 Diphthongs and constant combinations Unit 3 German nouns and their genders Unit 4 Articles in the nominative case Unit 5 Pronouns in the nominative case Unit 6 Verb sein in present Unit 7 Verb sein in imperfect Unit 8 Verb haben Unit 9 Present tense Unit 10 Modal Verbs Unit 11 Nominalization of verbs Unit 12 Adjective endings in nominative case Unit 13 Making plural nouns Unit 14 Numbers in German Unit 15 Accusative case Unit 16 Pronouns in accusative case Unit 17 Prepositions with accusative case Unit 18 Questions with interrogative pronouns Unit 19 Asking questions without interrogative pronouns

This lesson contains topics:

1. Personal pronouns in the accusative case
2. Demonstrative pronouns in the accusative case
3. Possessive pronouns in the accusative case
4. Reflexsive pronouns in the accusative case

Personal pronouns in the accusative case

In lesson 5 (Pronouns), we have discussed pronouns in the nominative case. Object pronouns replace the object of the sentence. (Object is a noun that receives the action in the sentence.) Object pronouns in English are: me, you, her, him, it, us, and them. The objective case in German is called the accusative case.
German personal pronouns in the accusative case are:

Examples:

Ich mag dich. (I like you.)
Explanation: The verb "mögen" (to like) takes a direct object. In this case, it is the second-person singular pronoun "dich". In this sentence, "I" is the subject pronoun, "like" is the verb, and "you" is the object pronoun (in German, accusative). As the accusative case changes the personal pronoun "du" to "dich", that's why we are using "dich" and not "du".
The conjugation of the verb "mögen" is:
ich mag, du magst, er/sie/es mag, wir mögen, ihr mögt, Sie mögen, sie mögen.

Ich brauche ihn. (I need him.)

Ich habe einen Burger. (I have a burger.) Ich esse ihn jetzt. (I am eating it now.)
"Der Burger" is a masculine noun. This may be confusing due to the English translation, "I am eating it now". We must take care of the gender in German nouns.

Demonstrative pronouns in the accusative case

In lesson 5, we covered demonstrative pronouns in the nominative case. In German, demonstrative pronouns are identical to definite articles, namely "der," "die," and "das." However, when employed as demonstrative pronouns, their meanings shift. "Der," "die," and "das" can indicate both "that" and "this." In the accusative case (objective case), only the masculine demonstrative pronoun "der" transforms into "den."

For the English word "this," we have learned the German equivalent, "dieser." When demonstrating masculine nouns in the accusative case (objective case), "dieser" transforms into "diesen." However, for feminine and neuter nouns, there are no changes. Likewise, the plural form of the pronoun "diese" also remains unaltered.

Sometimes, distinguishing between a definite article and a demonstrative pronoun within a single sentence can be challenging. In such cases, the context of the sentence within the paragraph provides the necessary explanation for the differentiation.

Practice of demonstrative and personal pronouns

Ich mag dich sehr. (I like you very much.)
Ich mag dich auch. (I like you too.)
Ich mag dich nicht. (I do not like you.)
Ich mag dich gar nicht. (I do not like you at all.)
Ich mag das. (I like this.)

Magst du ihn? (Do you like him?)
Magst du sie? (Do you like her?)
Magst du ihn auch so gern? (Do you also like him so much?)
Mögen Sie den fisch? (Do you like that fish?)
Nein, ich mag die Wurst. Haben Sie die Wurst? (No, I like the sausage. Do you have the sausage?)

Mögen Sie Jacke oder Mantel? (Do you like jacket or coat?)
Ich mag den Pullover. (I like the sweater.)
Dieses Hemd mag ich auch. (I also like this shirt.)
Und noch was? (And something else?)
Ich denke, ich mag diese Hose und den Gürtel. (I think I like these pants and that belt.)
Das ist alles? (That's all?)
Und ich glaube, ich mag diese Schuhe auch. (And I think I like those shoes too.)

Der Schuh ist aber ein bisschen kaputt. (The shoe is a bit broken.)
Ich kaufe keine Schuhe dann. (I do not buy shoes then.)
Ich kaufe nur den Mantel und diese Brille. (I only buy that coat and these glasses.)
Und das reicht für heute. (And that is enough for today.)
Morgen komme ich wieder und kaufe noch was. (Tomorrow I will come back and buy something else.)
Morgen ist aber Sonntag. (But tomorrow is Sunday.)
Dann komme ich übermorgen. (Then I'll come over the day after tomorrow.)
Übermorgen sind wir zu. (The day after tomorrow we are closed.)
Alles klar, dann bis Dienstag. (All right, then until Tuesday.)

Possessive pronouns in the accusative case

Please first recall pronouns in the nominative case from Lesson 5.

Possessive pronouns that come before masculine nouns add an ending "-en" in the accusative case. The remaining possessive pronouns do not undergo any changes.

Examples:
The verb "lieben" (to love) is a regular verb. Conjugation of "lieben" is:
ich liebe (I love), du liebst (you love (singular)), er/sie/es liebt (he/she/it loves), wir lieben (we love), ihr liebt (you love (plural)), sie lieben (they love), Sie lieben (you love (polite form singular and plural)).

Ich liebe meinen Vater. (I love my father.)
Wir lieben auch unseren Vater. (We also love our father.)
Liebt ihr alle ihren Väter? (Do you all love your fathers?)
Liebst du deinen Vater? (Do you (singular) love your father?)
Ja, ich liebe meinen Vater und auch meine Mutter. (Yes, I love my dad and my mother too.)

Reflexive pronouns

All reflexive pronouns are in the objective case (accusative case), meaning that a reflexive pronoun functions as either a direct object or an indirect object. In English, reflexive pronouns include myself, yourself, himself, herself, oneself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves.
In German, personal pronouns in the accusative case, such as mich, dich, uns, euch, are also utilized as reflexive pronouns. However, the 3rd person singular (er/es/sie), 3rd person plural "sie" (they), and the 2nd person polite form (Sie) transform into "sich." Please refer to the table below for a clear illustration:

Examples:

Man soll sich selbst kennen. (One should know oneself.)
"Man" with the single "n" is used for "one," i.e., man soll immer die Wahrheit sagen. (One should always tell the truth.)
Man soll nie lügen. (One should never lie.)
"Mann" with double "n" is a noun and it means "man" in English.
sich selbst (oneself), die Wahrheit (truth), nie (never) , lügen (to lie / to tell a lie).

Ich kenne mich sehr gut. (I know myself very well.)
The conjugation of the verb "kennen" (to know) is:
ich kenne, du kennst, er/sie/es kennt, wir kennen, ihr kennt, Sie kennen, sie kennen.

Er kennt sich sehr gut. (He knows himself very well.)
Sie kennt sich sehr gut. (She knows herself very well.)

Kennen wir uns? (Do we know each other?)
The literal translation would be: Do we know ourselves?

Kennen wir uns schon? (Do we already know each other?)

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