Английская Википедия:German pronouns
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:German grammar Шаблон:Personal pronouns Шаблон:Rip
German pronouns are German words that function as pronouns. As with pronouns in other languages, they are frequently employed as the subject or object of a clause, acting as substitutes for nouns or noun phrases, but are also used in relative clauses to relate the main clause to a subordinate one.
Classification and usage
Germanic pronouns are divided into several groups;
- Personal pronouns, which apply to an entity, such as the speaker or third parties;
- Possessive pronouns, which describe ownership of objects, institutions, etc.;
- Demonstrative pronouns;
- Reflexive pronouns, in which the subject is also one of the objects;
- Relative pronouns, which connect clauses;
- Interrogative pronouns, which are used in questions, such as who?;
- Indefinite pronouns, which denote entities of quantities.
With few exceptions, German pronouns must always have the same gender, same number, and same case as their antecedents.
In German, a pronoun may have a certain position in the sentence under special circumstances. First and second person pronouns usually do not, and they can be used anywhere in the sentence—except in certain poetical or informal contexts.
- Шаблон:Lang (the thing in the cupboard)
- Шаблон:Lang (the thing on the table)
There are also genitive direct objects. But the genitive object, other than accusative or dative objects, is somewhat outdated:
- OLD: Шаблон:Lang (MODERN: Шаблон:Lang) (I remember her.)
- OLD: Шаблон:Lang (MODERN: Шаблон:Lang)
- OLD: Шаблон:Lang (MODERN: Шаблон:Lang)
In Modern German, Шаблон:Lang rather takes the prepositional phrase with the preposition Шаблон:Lang. However, some verbs cannot be constructed otherwise, and thus genitive objects remain common language to some degree. This is true for Шаблон:Lang (which is archaic in itself), but also for sentences such as:
- OLD AND MODERN: Шаблон:Lang (Let us commemorate the victims.)
- OLD AND MODERN: Шаблон:Lang (I accuse Mr. John Doe of murder.)
The two noun and pronoun emphasizers Шаблон:Lang and Шаблон:Lang have slightly different meanings than if used with nominal phrases. They normally emphasize the pronoun, but if they are applied to a reflexive pronoun (in the objective case), they emphasize its reflexive meaning.
Personal pronouns
| Singular | Plural | Formal (singular and plural) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | First Person | Second Person | Third Person | First Person | Second Person | Third Person | Second Person | ||
| (English nominative) | I | you (thou) | he | it (null) | she | we | you | they | you |
| Nominative (subject) | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Accusative (direct object) | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | ||||
| Dative (indirect object) | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | |||
| Genitive | Шаблон:Lang (Шаблон:Lang) |
Шаблон:Lang (Шаблон:Lang) |
Шаблон:Lang (Шаблон:Lang) |
Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | |
The verbs following the formal form of "you"—"Шаблон:Lang"—are conjugated identically as in the third-person plurals. For example, "Шаблон:Lang" This means either "You speak German" or "They speak German", and it is completely up to the context to determine which one it is. "Шаблон:Lang" is third person female, this is shown by the change of "en" to "t" in the action (i.e., "Шаблон:Lang" vs. "Шаблон:Lang"), not context.
- "Шаблон:Lang" – "Шаблон:Lang" (When is your birthday? – It is tomorrow. Overliterally: He is tomorrow.)
- "Шаблон:Lang" – "Шаблон:Lang" (I am calling the dog – I am calling it. Overliterally: I am calling him.)
The first of these is an example of gender-based pronoun usage that may not be intuitive to an English speaker because in English an inanimate object is almost always referenced by the pronoun "it." In German, nouns always have a relevant gender to consider. In the above examples, both birthday and dog are masculine, so "it" becomes "Шаблон:Lang" in the nominative case and "Шаблон:Lang" in accusative.
Genitive personal pronouns (not to be confused with other instances of the genitive case such as "Шаблон:Lang"—see below) are sometimes explained as indicating possession; however, this is incorrect and redundant, as the definition of a possessive pronoun (Шаблон:Lang) is already to indicate possession. For example, my book translates to "Шаблон:Lang", or "Шаблон:Lang" (the latter an alternate formulation translated literally as the book from/of me), and never "Шаблон:Lang".
The genitive personal pronouns in the table above find very seldom use in modern German and are nearly always made obsolete by modern formulations. There is a well-known German saying "Шаблон:Lang" (The dative case is the death of the genitive case), referring to the frequent colloquial replacement of traditionally genitive formulations with dative formulations (e.g. "Шаблон:Lang" instead of "Шаблон:Lang"). Genitive personal pronouns may be used for the genitive object ("Шаблон:Lang": commemorate me). Archaically, the pronoun form without Шаблон:Lang can be used, e.g. Шаблон:Lang (instead of: "Шаблон:Lang" or—Шаблон:Lang takes the accusative as well—"Шаблон:Lang" in more modern form). Another use is after prepositions requiring the genitive case, e.g. "Шаблон:Lang" ("on my part", more typically "Шаблон:Lang").
Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns are formed by adding endings to the genitive case of the personal pronoun, eventually stripping it of its genitive ending. The endings are identical to those of the indefinite article Шаблон:Lang.
| Uninflected forms | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| m., n. sg. | f. sg. | pl. | courtesy | |
| 1st person | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | ||
| 2nd person | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | |
| 3rd person | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | |
| Example: Шаблон:Lang (my) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plurals | |
| Nominative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Accusative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Dative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Genitive | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
Note: When Шаблон:Lang and Шаблон:Lang have a suffix, the Шаблон:Lang gets reduced to Шаблон:Lang; e.g. Шаблон:Lang, Шаблон:Lang.
Pronouns derived from articles
To replace a nominal by a pronoun that is derived from an article, the declined form corresponding to the gender, case, and number of the nominal phrase is used.
Although the pronoun form and the article form are the same in most cases, there are sometimes differences.
The German definite article:
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Accusative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Dative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Genitive | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
The German indicative pronouns derived from the definite articles:
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Accusative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Dative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Genitive | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang/Шаблон:Lang |
Шаблон:Lang is to be used only for remarking an antecedent it follows.
Reflexive pronouns
There are also reflexive pronouns for the dative case and the accusative case (reflexive pronouns for the genitive case are possessive pronouns with a "Шаблон:Lang" following after them). In the first and second person, they are the same as the normal pronouns, but they only become visible in the third person singular and plural. The third person reflexive pronoun for both plural and singular is: "Шаблон:Lang":
- "Шаблон:Lang". (He loves himself.)
- "Шаблон:Lang". (They hide themselves.)
Reflexive pronouns can be used not only for personal pronouns:
- "Шаблон:Lang" (She bought herself a picture.)
- "Шаблон:Lang" (His is already broken.)
Relative clause
A pronoun contains, or rather, has a relative clause, if there is ever a further meaning to express behind the pronoun, that is to say, some more clarification necessary. The relative pronouns are as follows:
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Accusative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Dative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Genitive | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
Instead, Шаблон:Lang (Шаблон:Lang, Шаблон:Lang) may be used, which is seen to be more formal, and only common in interdependent multi-relative clauses, or as a mnemonic to German pupils to learn to distinguish Шаблон:Lang from Шаблон:Lang (it is the first of these if one can say Шаблон:Lang, Шаблон:Lang or Шаблон:Lang instead). The relative pronoun is never omitted in German. On the other hand, in English, the phrase
The young woman I invited for coffee yesterday is my cousin's fiancée.
completely omits the use of a relative pronoun. (The use of the relative pronouns "who" or "that" is optional in sentences like these.) To state such a thing in German, one would say
The conjugated verb is placed at the end of German relative clauses. This was the preferable use in Latin sentences as well as in Old High German even for main clauses, and remains intact for subclauses, whereas in main clauses the verb takes the second place. (Exceptions: jokes begin with the verb: "Шаблон:Lang" which might be translated in a way such as this: Meeting two friends. Coming one fails to do. In family event lyrics, the old custom may be revived for the sake of forced rhyme, e.g. "Шаблон:Lang" My uncle is right best a man / a thing that really prove I can.)
Likewise, an English participle such as
The man coming round the corner is a thief.
is best translated to a relative clause, e.g.
However, it might be translated literally which would result in what some call a very German sentence, e.g.
(See relative clauses).
Demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns are used to refer to something already defined.
Шаблон:Lang (that, the former)
Шаблон:Lang (this, the latter) (or "Шаблон:Lang" as abbreviation for Шаблон:Lang)
Шаблон:Lang (the former)
Шаблон:Lang (the latter)
- all decline
Шаблон:Lang, Шаблон:Lang, Шаблон:Lang (the one)
- Declined like [def. art] + [[[:Шаблон:Lang]]] + weak adj. ending
- Used to identify a noun to be further identified in a relative clause.
Шаблон:Lang, Шаблон:Lang, Шаблон:Lang (the same)
- Declined like [def. art] + [[[:Шаблон:Lang]]] + weak adj. ending
- Used to indicate an identity stronger than Шаблон:Lang ("the equal") would. However, the Шаблон:Lang / Шаблон:Lang distinction is not present in all varieties of German.
They follow the format
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Accusative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Dative | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
| Genitive | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang | Шаблон:Lang |
Interrogative pronouns
In German, there are the interrogative pronouns. Most of them have a direct English equivalent:
"Шаблон:Lang" Who?
"Шаблон:Lang" What?
"Шаблон:Lang" (which) is declined by gender and case.[1]
References
External links
Шаблон:Wiktionarycat Шаблон:Language pronouns
