Family, friends and yourself come up in every speaking and writing task. To talk about people you need the pronouns in all three cases (ich–mich–mir), the possessives (mein, dein, sein…), the verb gefallen for "to like", the dative after words like mit, and the handy man ("one / you / people").
Work through each screen and answer the questions as you go — some ask you to recognise the right form, some ask you to produce it by typing. Collect ⭐ stars and press Start.
These replace the person doing the action (the nominative). Note that sie does triple duty:
| ich | I |
| du | you (one friend) |
| er / sie / es | he / she / it |
| wir | we |
| ihr | you (a group of friends) |
| sie / Sie | they / you (polite) |
The three "sie": sie = "she", sie = "they", and Sie (always capital) = polite "you". The verb ending tells them apart: sie ist (she is) vs sie sind (they are).
When the person is on the receiving end of the action (the direct object), use the accusative pronoun:
| nominative | accusative |
|---|---|
| ich | mich (me) |
| du | dich (you) |
| er / sie / es | ihn / sie / es (him/her/it) |
| wir | uns (us) |
| ihr | euch (you) |
| sie / Sie | sie / Sie (them/you) |
Only "er" really changes shape → ihn. Ich liebe ihn (I love him), Er sieht mich (He sees me), Wir besuchen euch (We're visiting you).
The dative marks the person to/for whom something happens. It's also the form used with "liking" verbs:
| nominative | dative |
|---|---|
| ich | mir (to me) |
| du | dir (to you) |
| er / sie / es | ihm / ihr / ihm |
| wir / ihr / sie | uns / euch / ihnen |
German says "to like" backwards with gefallen: the thing you like is the subject, and you go in the dative:
These say whose it is. Watch the pair that trips everyone up: sein = "his", ihr = "her":
| mein | my |
| dein | your (du) |
| sein | his / its |
| ihr | her / their |
| unser | our |
| euer / Ihr | your (ihr / polite) |
sein vs ihr: sein Vater = "his father", ihr Vater = "her father". The word matches the owner, not the noun.
Every possessive takes the same endings as ein / kein. So in the accusative, a masculine object adds -en:
| gender | nominative | accusative |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | mein Bruder | meinen Bruder |
| feminine | meine Schwester | meine Schwester |
| neuter | mein Kind | mein Kind |
| plural | meine Eltern | meine Eltern |
Just like cluster 1: only the masculine changes in the accusative. Ich liebe meinen Bruder, but Ich liebe meine Schwester.
A group of everyday prepositions always take the dative. With people this is where you'll meet the dative possessive endings -em (m/n) and -er (f):
Learn the dative-trigger set: aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu — all followed by the dative, every time.
Decide whether the highlighted pronoun is accusative (direct object) or dative.
man is an all-purpose subject meaning "one / you / people / they" in general. It always takes the er/sie/es verb form:
Don't confuse man (the pronoun, one n) with der Mann (a man, double n, capital). They sound alike but are different words.
Tap an English word on the left, then tap its German possessive on the right.
Pronouns: nominative ich/du/er…, accusative mich/dich/ihn…, dative mir/dir/ihm…. Only er shifts to ihn / ihm.
gefallen = to like, backwards: the thing is the subject, the person is dative — Der Film gefällt mir.
Possessives: mein, dein, sein (his), ihr (her), unser… — take ein-endings; masculine object → meinen.
Dative prepositions: aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu → -em (m/n), -er (f).
man = one/you/people; always the er/sie/es verb form (not der Mann!).
Next we pull the cases together and tackle word order. Press Finish to see your score.
You can now talk about people in Cambridge IGCSE German. 🎉
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Next in the spine: Cases and word order — the three cases together, verb-second, inversion and TeKaMoLo. Then lock this in with the Evaluate confidence quiz.