Polyglot Dictionary

du

/duː/

pronoun A1

der (masc.) die (fem.) das (neut.)

Underline = a spelling pattern that usually signals that gender.

Pron Register Neutral Era Current Frequency Core Domain General Tone Neutral

Forms

accusative
dich
dative
dir

Meaning

  1. you (informal, singular)

    Reserved for family, friends, children, and anyone who's invited you to use it — strangers and formal contexts take Sie instead.

    • Wie heißt du?

      What's your name?

Similar words

Sie

du is informal and singular. Sie (capitalised) is the formal "you," used for both one person and several, with strangers, in business, and with anyone older or higher-status you haven't been invited to address more casually.

Similar in other languages

French

tu

tu is the French word for the same thing — both mean "you (informal, singular)."

Practice

1 What does du mean?

2 Fill the gap: Wie heißt ___?

3 Which fingerprint chart matches du?

See also

pronouncore-vocabularygrammar

Last updated