Jener (that) is used mainly in formal written German. It has the same endings as dieser.
34 The noun phrase: determiners and pronouns
Ich möchte ein Stück von der Wurst. I’d like a piece of thesausage.
Ich möchte ein Stück von derWurst. I’d like a piece of this/thatsausage.
masculine feminine neuter plural
nominative dieser diese dieses diese
accusative diesen diese dieses diese
genitive dieses dieser dieses dieser
dative diesem dieser diesem diesen
alle all jener that viele much, many
beide both mancher some, many welcher which
einige some mehrere several wenige few
jeder each, every sämtliche all
Ich habedieseErklärung nicht verstanden. I didn’t understand this/that explanation.
Diese Schokolade schmeckt aber gut! This/that chocolate really does taste good!
SeitjenenTagen hatte Herr Arndt Mr Arndt had not seen him since those days.
ihn nicht mehr gesehen.
Solcher(such) is used mainly in the plural, with the same endings as dieser. In the singular it is usually used with ein and has the same endings as an adjective (see 4.1, ‘weak’ declension).
So einis the most common equivalent for ‘such a’ in spoken German, with the endings of the indefinite article ein (see 3.2). It is often accompanied by a gesture indicating the size.
Derjenige (that) is most often followed by a relative clause. The first part declines like der (see 3.1), the second has the endings of an adjective (see 4.1, ‘weak’ declension).
Derselbe(the same). Both parts decline, like derjenige.
3.5 Possessives
Possessives indicate ‘possession’ of the following noun, e.g. mein Buch ‘my book’, Ihre Tochter
‘your daughter’. As in English, there is a possessive form corresponding to each PERSONAL PRONOUN, e.g. ich (I) or du (you) (see 3.7). This section deals with possessive DETERMINERS. See 3.9 for pos-sessive PRONOUNS.
NB For the personal pronouns ich, du etc. see 3.7.
NB The polite form Sie (you) and its possessive Ihr (your) can be used to address one person, or two or more people (see 3.7).
NB The -er at the end of unser and euer is part of the stem, not an ending. The endings are added to the stem, e.g.
in unseremHaus, eu(e)reReise.
3.5 Possessives 35
Solchen Leuten kann man alles erzählen. You can tell people like that anything.
Eine solche Kamera würde ich nie kaufen. I’d never buy a camera like that.
Sie hat mirso eingroßes Eis gekauft. She bought me an ice-cream this big!
Gerade diejenigeFrau, die mir helfen wollte, The very woman that was going to help me
ist verschwunden. has disappeared.
Er besucht dieselbeSchule wie dein Bruder. He’s at the same school as your brother.
singular plural
ich mein my wir unser our
du dein your ihr euer your
er sein his Sie Ihr your (polite)
sie ihr her sie ihr their
es sein its
Like other determiners, possessives change their endings in accordance with the GENDER, NUMBER
and CASEof the following noun:
The case endings of possessive determiners are like those of ein and kein:
Possessives can also be used as PRONOUNS(i.e. as the equivalent to English ‘mine’ rather than ‘my’), but they then have different endings (see 3.9).
3.6 Other determiners
Most of the other common determiners in German have the same endings as dieser (see 3.4).
Many of them are used only or chiefly in the plural.
Alle(all/all the) is used in the plural with endings like dieser:
It can also be used without an ending in the singular and in the nominative/accusative plural, followed by a definite article, e.g. mit all dem Geld, all die braven Kinder.
Beide(both) is used in the plural with endings like dieser:
Ein paar(a few) does not decline. The determiner ein paar should not be confused with ein Paar (a pair), e.g. ein Paar Schuhe:
36 The noun phrase: determiners and pronouns
MeinVater traf meineSchwestern.
(masc., sg., nom.) (fem., pl., acc.)
Myfather met mysisters.
Der Brudermeines Vaters traf den Lehrer meinerSchwestern.
(masc., sg., gen.) (fem., pl., gen.) The brother of myfather met the teacher of mysisters.
OR: Myfather’sbrother met my sisters’teacher.
masculine feminine neuter plural
nominative mein meine mein meine
accusative meinen meine mein meine
genitive meines meiner meines meiner
dative meinem meiner meinem meinen
Sie hat alleguten Bonbons aufgegessen. She’s eaten up all the good sweets.
Ich möchte beideT-Shirts kaufen. I’d like to buy both T-shirts.
Wir fahren in ein paarTagen nach We’re going to Greece in a few days’
Griechenland. time.
Einige(some) has endings like dieser and is more common in the plural:
Irgendein/irgendwelche (some/some … or other/any … at all) emphasizes indefiniteness.
Irgendein is only used in the singular and has the endings of ein (see 3.2). Irgendwelche is used in the plural and has endings like dieser:
Jeder(each/every/any) has endings like dieser and is only used in the singular:
Mancher(some/many, in the sense of ‘a fair number’) has endings like dieser and is more common in the plural:
Mehrere(several) has endings like dieser and is used in the plural:
Sämtliche(all, referring to the members of a particular set) has endings like dieser:
Viel/viele(much/many/a lot of) usually has no ending in the singular, but endings like dieser in the plural:
Was für (ein)(what sort of). The word ein declines like the indefinite article (see 3.2). It is absent in the plural:
3.6 Other determiners 37
Wir spielen jedenTag Monopoly. We play Monopoly every day.
An manchenTagen bleibt Alfred einfach im Bett. Some days Alfred simply stays in bed.
Er brauchte zur Reparatur des He needed several months to mend
Computers mehrere Monate. the computer.
Nach einigemÜberlegen (sg.) hat sie After some deliberation she bought einigeBücher (pl.) gekauft. some books.
Er hat irgendeinen Job bei einer Zeitung. He’s got some job with a newspaper.
Sie hat mir Fotos von irgendwelchenFilmstars She showed me photographs of some gezeigt, von denen ich noch nie gehört habe. filmstars I’ve never heard of.
In der Kreidezeit sind sämtliche All the dinosaurs died out in the Dinosaurier ausgestorben. Cretaceous period.
VielGlück! Ich hoffe, du fängst vieleFische. Good luck! I hope you catch lots of fish.
Was fürTiere magst du am liebsten? What kind of animals do you like best?
Was für einMann ist er denn? What sort of a man is he?
Welcher(which) is an interrogative determiner and has the same endings as dieser. It can be used in the singular and plural:
Wenig/wenige(little/few/not much/not many) usually has no ending in the singular, but the endings of dieser in the plural:
3.7 Personal pronouns
PRONOUNS are typically little words which stand for nouns or noun phrases. The PERSONAL PRONOUNSin English and German fall into three groups:
First person: the speaker (or a group including the speaker)
Second person: the person(s) being addressed
Third person: the other person(s) or thing(s) being spoken about.
Like nouns, they have special forms to indicate gender (in the third person), plural and case:
NB There are genitive forms of the personal pronouns (meiner, deiner, seiner, etc.), but they are rarely used nowa-days even in very formal registers.
Er, sie, es
Because words for things can have any of the three genders in German, we find all three used where we would use ‘it’ in English.
In the singular, the third person pronounstake their gender from the noun which they refer to.
38 The noun phrase: determiners and pronouns
WelchePartei wählst du dieses Mal? Which party will you vote for this time?
Das Flugzeug landet in wenigen Minuten. The plane will be landing in a few minutes.
Er hat wenigZeit. He doesn’t have much time.
person nominative accusative dative
1st ich I mich mir
2nd du you dich dir
singular 3rd masculine er he ihn ihm
feminine sie she sie ihr
neuter es it es ihm
1st wir we uns uns
2nd familiar ihr you euch euch
plural polite (sg./pl.) Sie you Sie Ihnen
3rd sie they sie ihnen
This means that er, sie and es do not correspond exactly to English ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘it’. Look carefully at these sentences:
NB Whether the pronoun is masculine, feminine or neuter in principle depends on grammatical gender, e.g. das Dornröschen is es despite being female (nouns with the diminutive ending -chen are always neuter). Especially in spoken German, however, people often use the pronoun appropriate to the person’s natural gender.