Demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns are words like 'this', 'that', 'every' and 'some'.
Demonstrative pronouns
A demonstrative pronoun can take the place of a definite article in a sentence, eg
thedog is naughty ->
thisdog is naughty. To know which word to pick, you need to know three things:
- Which demonstrative pronoun you want to use, eg dies/jen/jed etc.
- The gender of the noun, eg if you want to say 'that dog', make sure you know the gender of Hund.
- What case your noun is going to be in, ie nominative, accusative, dative or genitive.
Useful vocabulary: common demonstrative pronouns
| English | German |
|---|---|
| This | dies (-er, -e, -es) |
| That | jen (-er, -e, -es) |
| Each/every | jed (-er, -e, -es) |
| Some | manch (-er, -e, -es) |
| Such | solch (-er, -e, -es) |
| Which | welch (-er, -e, -es) |
Endings
When you put a demonstrative pronoun into a sentence it needs an ending, and these follow the same patterns as the
definite article. Note that in the case of '
das' the ending is 'es' instead of 'as' (
das Auto -> jedes Auto). Here's the definite article table to remind you.
Definite article (the)
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative case | der | die | das (es) | die |
| Accusative case | den | die | das (es) | die |
| Dative case | dem | der | dem | den (*2) |
| Genitive case | des (*1) | der | des (*1) | der |
- (*1) = In the genitive, add an -(e)s to the end of the noun, eg 'jenes Mannes'.
- (*2) = In the dative plural, add an '–n' to the end of the noun, eg 'diesen Kindern'.
For example, in the sentence 'I love that dog':
- Find the correct column for the gender of your noun - 'dog' is masculine, so 'der Hund'.
- Follow it down to the correct case - 'I love that dog' is accusative, so 'den Hund'.
- Adapt the demonstrative pronoun by putting the ending on it - that is 'jenen'.
- So 'I love that dog' is 'Ich liebe jenen Hund'.
Practise using the reference table
Nominative examples
- Every dad should play football (Vater - masc) -> Jeder Vater soll Fußball spielen.
- This class is really nice (Klasse - fem) -> Diese Klasse ist wirklich nett.
Accusative examples
- I've already seen this film (Film - masc) -> Ich habe diesen Film schon gesehen.
- I find such ideas dangerous! (Ideen - pl) -> Ich finde solche Ideen gefährlich.
Dative examples
- From which platform does the train depart? (Zug - masc) -> Von welchem Gleis fährt der Zug?
- I'm giving that lady my seat (Frau - fem) -> Ich gebe jener Frau meinen Platz.
Genitive examples
- The voices of some teachers are monotonous (Lehrer - pl) -> Die Stimmen mancher Lehrer sind eintönig.
- In spite of every problem I'm here (Wetter - neut) -> Trotz jedes Problems bin ich hier.
Common mistakes made by English speakers
- Not putting endings on demonstrative pronouns.
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