German grammar › A2
Pronouns — the rest
Level A2 · possessives · dieser · man, jemand · einander · selbst
What are “the other” pronouns?
Pronouns stand in for nouns or point to them. You know ich, du, er … Now meet the other families: possession (mein), pointing (dieser), people in general (man, jemand) and each other (einander).
When you use them
- Whose something is: mein Bruder, unsere Wohnung.
- Pointing: Diese Jacke gefällt mir.
- People in general: Wie sagt man das?
Pattern
possessive + noun = ein-endings
What changes
possessives and dieser change with gender and case; man, jemand and etwas mostly don’t
Examples
- mein Bruder → mit **meinem** Bruder — my brother → with my brother
Remember: Possessives are ein with a new start: ein → mein, dein, sein — same endings.
Watch out: sein can mean “his / its” or “to be”: sein Auto (his car) · Er will krank sein (to be).
Builds on: Personal pronouns and Indefinite article.
possession → mein / dein … · pointing → dieser … · unknown / general → man / jemand …
Different pronoun families do different jobs.
Possessives
- mein — my
- dein — your
- sein — his / its
- ihr — her
- unser — our
- euer — your · plural informal
- ihr — their
- Ihr — your · formal
Same pattern as ein
Possessive words use the same ending system you already learned with ein
- masculine: mein Bruder
- feminine: meine Schwester
- neuter: mein Kind
- plural: meine Eltern
- mein Bruder — Here mein comes before a noun, so it functions as a possessive determiner.
- Das ist meiner. — Here it replaces the noun itself, so it is a true possessive pronoun.
- euer Vater — no ending → keep euer
- eure Mutter — when an ending is added, the middle e normally disappears: eure, euren, eurem …
Demonstratives — pointing at something
- dieser · dieser Mann · diese Frau · dieses Kind
this / this one. Very common and declines like a der-word. - jener · jener Mann
that / that one. Correct German, but less common in everyday conversation. - der / die / das · Der ist nett. · Die kenne ich.
In spoken German these are often used demonstratively: “that one / he / she”.
Interrogative pronouns — asking
- wer — who
- was — what
- welcher — which
- was für ein — what kind of
Indefinite pronouns
- man — one / you / people
- jemand — someone
- niemand — nobody
- etwas — something
- nichts — nothing
- alles — everything
- jeder — everyone / each
- einige — some
- manche — some / certain
- viele — many
man — extremely useful in real German
Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch?
How do you say that in German? · How does one say that? — man always uses third-person singular verb forms: man sagt · man macht · man kann.
- General rule: In Deutschland trinkt man viel Kaffee. — People / you generally drink a lot of coffee in Germany.
- Asking how: Wie macht man das? — How do you do that?
Reciprocal and emphasis
- Wir helfen einander.
We help each other.
- Ich mache das selbst.
I do it myself. Adds emphasis: myself / yourself / himself / herself etc.
- Ich mache es selbst. — I do it myself.
- Er macht es selbst. — He does it himself.
Final full picture
Summary
- possessive — shows ownership (mein · dein · sein · ihr …)
- possessive endings — same family as ein (mein / meine)
- euer — drops middle e with endings (eure Mutter)
- demonstrative — points to someone / something (dieser · jener · der)
- interrogative — asks for information (wer · was · welcher)
- indefinite — unspecified person / thing (jemand · etwas · alles)
- man — general “you / people / one” (Wie sagt man das?)
- reciprocal — each other (einander)
- emphasis — myself / himself … (selbst / selber)
mein = ownership · man = people in general · einander = each other
“Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch?” is one of the most useful sentences for a learner.
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