Personal pronouns (ich, du, er, sie, etc.)

Personal pronouns in German are ich, du, er/sie/es, wir, ihr and sie.

Teacher explanation

When to use du vs Sie (formal)

du = informal: colleagues you know well, friends, family, people your age in relaxed contexts.
Sie = formal/polite: new colleagues, clients, supervisors, older people, official situations.
Sie is used for one person or multiple people and is always capitalized.

Situation	Use	Example
Talking to a new colleague on day 1	Sie	Guten Tag. Wie geht es Ihnen?
Talking to a teammate you are on du-terms with	du	Hi! Wie geht's dir?

Professional tip: In German workplaces, people may offer du (“Wir können du sagen.”). Until then, Sie is the safe default.

These are the subject pronouns (who is doing the action):

sie can mean she or they. Context (and verb form later) clarifies it.
Sie (formal you) looks the same in singular and plural, but it’s capital S.

English speakers often mix up subject and object forms.

Correct	Why
Ich bin Maria.	Ich = subject (“I am …”)
~~Mich~~ bin Maria.	~~mich~~ is not used as the subject.
Wie geht's dir?	dir = “to you” (fixed with gehen)

Pay attention: the pronoun changes the small word after the verb:

Situation	Question	Short answer
Informal	Wie geht's dir?	Danke, mir geht's gut. Und dir?
Formal	Wie geht es Ihnen?	Danke, mir geht es gut. Und Ihnen?

Goal for A1: You can greet people professionally, ask how they are, and choose du vs Sie confidently.

Exceptions!

„Sie“ is used as the polite form of address for one or more people in formal situations and is always capitalized in a sentence.