Polyglot Dictionary

sie

/ziː/

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

she — accusative
sie
she — dative
ihr
they — accusative
sie
they — dative
ihnen
you (formal) — accusative
Sie
you (formal) — dative
Ihnen

Meaning

  1. she; her (as subject)

  2. they

    Lowercase, same spelling as "she" — only capitalisation (and context) separates it from the formal "you" below.

    • Sie wohnen in Berlin.

      They live in Berlin.

  3. you (formal, singular or plural)

    Always capitalised — Sie — the polite form used with strangers, colleagues, and anyone not on first-name terms.

    • Wie geht es Ihnen?

      How are you? (formal)

Similar words

du

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.

Practice

1 What does sie mean?

2 Fill the gap: ___ kommt aus Spanien.

3 Which fingerprint chart matches sie?

See also

pronouncore-vocabularygrammarthree-meanings

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