Du or Sie? German Pronouns and the Formal Address

The German personal pronouns across cases, when to use informal du and formal Sie, how to tell sie and Sie apart, and how people switch from Sie to du.

English has one "you". German has three: du, ihr and Sie. Choosing correctly is part of good manners, and understanding the pronouns is basic to grammar.

Personal pronouns

Person	Nominative	Accusative	Dative
I	ich	mich	mir
you (informal, singular)	du	dich	dir
he	er	ihn	ihm
she	sie	sie	ihr
it	es	es	ihm
we	wir	uns	uns
you (informal, plural)	ihr	euch	euch
they	sie	sie	ihnen
you (formal)	Sie	Sie	Ihnen

Three "you"s

du: informal singular, for one person you know well.
ihr: informal plural, for several people you'd address as du.
Sie: formal, singular and plural, for one or more people you don't know well or should show respect.

When to use du

Family, and close friends
Children, and teenagers
Fellow students and young people in casual settings
Colleagues in workplaces with a relaxed culture
Online communities, and many shops such as IKEA and some startups

When to use Sie

Strangers and people you've just met
Older people, unless invited otherwise
Business contacts and customers
Officials, doctors, teachers and shop assistants
Formal letters and emails

If in doubt, use Sie. It's safer to be too formal than too casual.

Telling sie and Sie apart

Three different words look alike:

sie (lower case): she, or they.
Sie (capital): formal you.
The verb ending clarifies: sie geht (she goes), sie gehen (they go), Sie gehen (you go, formal). Sie gehen could be "they go" or "you go", so context or capitalisation matters.

The capital S in Sie, Ihnen and Ihr is required, in writing.

Verb forms

du: du gehst, du hast, du bist
ihr: ihr geht, ihr habt, ihr seid
Sie: Sie gehen, Sie haben, Sie sind

Offering du

The switch from Sie to du is called das Du anbieten. Traditionally, the older or more senior person offers it: Wir können uns duzen. — We can use du. Or Sollen wir uns duzen? Accepting it is a sign of closer relationship. Once you have switched, going back to Sie would feel cold.

Verbs: duzen and siezen

duzen: to address someone as du.
siezen: to address someone as Sie.

Regional and generational differences

In Austria and Switzerland, and in some regions or sectors, norms vary. Du is widespread among younger people and in creative industries. In traditional workplaces, Sie with first names (Sie, Frau Müller vs Sie, Anna) can also occur.

Possessives

The possessive pronouns match:

mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer, Ihr
Ihr Name (formal, your name), dein Name (informal), ihr Name (her/their name)

The pronoun man

Man means "one" or "you" in a general sense: Man spricht Deutsch. — German is spoken here. It takes the er/sie/es verb form.

Common mistakes

Using du with strangers.
Forgetting capital Sie.
Mixing up ihr and Ihr.
Using Sie with a group of friends.

Dictionary tip

Dictionaries mark Sie forms and list pronoun cases. Use them to check the dative and accusative forms.

Practice

Write short dialogues: one with a friend (du), one with a shop assistant (Sie), and one with two friends (ihr).

Look up German pronouns with English German Dictionary →