Personal Pronouns & 'to be' / 'to have'
Personal Pronouns & 'to be' / 'to have'
German pronouns split English's single 'you' into three forms, and its two most essential verbs — sein (to be) and haben (to have) — are irregular, just as their English counterparts are.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Personal pronouns: an extra 'you' and a split 'they'/'it'
ich, du, er/sie/es, wir, ihr, sie/Sie
I, you, he/she/it, we, you (pl.), they/you (formal)
English has one word for "you," whether singular or plural, formal or casual. German has three: du (singular, informal), ihr (plural, informal), and Sie (formal — singular or plural, always capitalized). To add to the fun, lowercase sie also means "they." Capitalization and context are the only way to tell Sie (you, formal) from sie (she) and sie (they) apart in writing; in speech, context alone does the job.
sein (to be) — irregular, just like English
ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist, wir sind, ihr seid, sie/Sie sind
I am, you are, he/she/it is, we are, you are, they/you are
English "to be" is wildly irregular (am/is/are/was/were), and German sein is too — there's no shortcut, you simply memorize all six present-tense forms. The silver lining: because both languages irregularize this particular verb, the *idea* of an irregular "to be" is already familiar to you; only the specific forms are new.
haben (to have) — mostly regular, with two contractions
ich habe, du hast, er/sie/es hat, wir haben, ihr habt, sie/Sie haben
I have, you have, he/she/it has, we have, you have, they/you have
haben follows the regular verb pattern (-e, -st, -t, -en, -t, -en) except that du and er/sie/es drop the 'b' (habst → hast, habt → hat). Learn haben solidly now: German also uses it, much like English "have," as the helper verb for its most common past tense (the Perfekt), which you'll meet soon.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| German | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | ikh | I |
| du | doo | you (informal singular) |
| er | air | he |
| sie | zee | she / they |
| es | es | it |
| wir | veer | we |
| ihr | eer | you (informal plural) |
| Sie | zee | you (formal) |
| ich bin | ikh bin | I am |
| du bist | doo bist | you are |
| ich habe | ikh HAH-beh | I have |
| du hast | doo hahst | you have |