3.8 Reflexive pronouns

The forms of Sie are the same whether you are speaking to one or more people. In general, the use of du/ihr (and the corresponding use of first names) is much less widespread in Germanspeaking countries than the use of first names in English-speaking countries.

„Zu diesem Zeitpunkt erfuhr Ihr Mann, dass Sie ihn besuchen wollten.“

Man

When referring to people in general, it is normal to use the indefinite pronoun man ‘one’ (not du or Leute):

Man only exists in the nominative form. For the other cases einen (accusative) and einem (dative) are used:

Bei Rot soll man nicht über die Straße gehen. One/You shouldn’t cross the road when the lights are red. Heutzutage ist man toleranter. Nowadays people are more tolerant.

Die Politik macht einen geradezu depressiv. Politics make one positively depressed. Der Staat sollte einem viel mehr Geld geben. The state ought to give people far more money.

Sometimes a pronoun refers back to the subject of the sentence, e.g. Ich wasche mich (I wash myself/ I’m washing myself) or Er schadet sich (He’s harming himself). These are called REFLEXIVEPRONOUNS, and verbs used with reflexive pronouns are called REFLEXIVEVERBS. In terms of valency this means that their direct or indirect object refers to the same person(s) as their subject (see 8.2).

Reflexive pronouns are used more widely in German than English, and they have a special form – sich – in the third person:

accusative dative

ich freue mich ich schade mir du freust dich du schadest dir er/sie/es freut sich er/sie/es schadet sich wir freuen uns wir schaden uns ihr freut euch ihr schadet euch sie/Sie freuen sich sie/Sie schaden sich