A personal pronoun is a small word that stands in for a person or thing so you don't repeat the noun: instead of “Anna kommt, und Anna ist müde,” you say “Anna kommt, und sie ist müde.” In German, the pronoun changes shape depending on its job in the sentence — this is called case.
The three cases you need first
German has four cases, but for pronouns at A1 you mostly meet three: the nominative (the subject — who does the action), the accusative (the direct object — who or what is directly affected), and the dative (the indirect object — usually the receiver, and the case many prepositions demand).
| Nominative | Accusative | Dative | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| ich | mich | mir | I / me |
| du | dich | dir | you (informal) |
| er | ihn | ihm | he / him |
| sie | sie | ihr | she / her |
| es | es | ihm | it |
| wir | uns | uns | we / us |
| ihr | euch | euch | you (plural) |
| sie | sie | ihnen | they / them |
| Sie | Sie | Ihnen | you (formal) |
How to choose the right one
Ask what the pronoun is doing. Is it the one acting? Use the nominative. Is it directly receiving the action of the verb? Use the accusative. Is it the person something is given, said, or shown to — or does a preposition like mit or bei force it? Use the dative.
Ich sehe dich.
I see you.
ich = subject (nom.), dich = direct object (acc.)
Sie hilft mir.
She helps me.
helfen always takes the dative → mir
Er gibt ihr das Buch.
He gives her the book.
ihr = the receiver (dat.), das Buch = the thing given (acc.)
Kommst du mit uns?
Are you coming with us?
mit forces the dative → uns
Die Jacke passt mir.
The jacket fits me.
passen takes the dative → mir
✗Kannst du helfen mich?
✓Kannst du mir helfen?
helfen takes the dative, so “me” is mir, not mich.
✗Ich liebe du.
✓Ich liebe dich.
“you” is the direct object here, so it must be accusative: dich.
✗Das ist für ich.
✓Das ist für mich.
für always takes the accusative → mich.
Tipp · Learn the six verbs that quietly demand the dative — helfen, danken, gehören, gefallen, passen, antworten. Once those are automatic, most pronoun mistakes disappear.