Personal Pronouns & 'to be' / 'to have'
सर्वनाम और 'होना' / 'रखना' क्रिया
German pronouns split English's single 'you' into three forms — the same kind of split Hindi already makes with तुम vs. आप. And its two most essential verbs — sein (to be) and haben (to have) — are irregular.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
Pronouns: an extra 'you', and a split 'he/she/it'
ich, du, er/sie/es, wir, ihr, sie/Sie
मैं, तुम, वह (पुल्लिंग)/वह (स्त्रीलिंग)/यह, हम, तुम लोग, वे/आप
Just as Hindi separates तुम and आप, German makes a similar split, plus one more step: du (singular, informal), ihr (plural, informal), and Sie (formal — both singular and plural, always capitalized). Amusingly, the lowercase sie also means "they." In writing, capitalization is the only thing that distinguishes Sie (you, formal) from sie (she/they); in speech, only context tells you which is meant.
sein (to be) — irregular, just as tricky as Hindi's होना
ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist, wir sind, ihr seid, sie/Sie sind
मैं हूँ, तुम हो, वह है, हम हैं, तुम हो, वे/आप हैं
Hindi's होना also changes completely by person, tense, and number (हूँ, हो, है, हैं, था, थी...), so the idea of memorizing several totally different forms of one verb shouldn't feel new. German sein is just as irregular — no shortcuts, just six present-tense forms to learn by heart.
haben (to have) — mostly regular, with a small twist
ich habe, du hast, er/sie/es hat, wir haben, ihr habt, sie/Sie haben
मेरे पास है, तुम्हारे पास है, उसके पास है, हमारे पास है, तुम्हारे पास है, उनके/आपके पास है
Notice: Hindi says "मेरे पास है" (literally 'near me is', expressing possession via proximity), while German haben works directly like a possession verb — "ich habe" literally means "I have." haben mostly follows the regular ending pattern (-e, -st, -t, -en, -t, -en), except that the 'b' drops in the du and er/sie/es forms (habst → hast, habt → hat). Learn haben well now: German uses it as the helping verb to build the past tense (Perfekt), coming up soon.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| German | Pronunciation | Hindi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| ich | ikh | मैंmaiñ | I |
| du | doo | तुमtum | you (informal singular) |
| er | air | वह (पुल्लिंग)vah | he |
| sie | zee | वह (स्त्रीलिंग) / वेvah / ve | she / they |
| es | es | यहyah | it |
| wir | veer | हमham | we |
| ihr | eer | तुम लोगtum log | you (informal plural) |
| Sie | zee | आपāp | you (formal) |
| ich bin | ikh bin | मैं हूँmaiñ hūñ | I am |
| du bist | doo bist | तुम होtum ho | you are |
| ich habe | ikh HAH-beh | मेरे पास हैmere pās hai | I have |
| du hast | doo hahst | तुम्हारे पास हैtumhāre pās hai | you have |