Demonstrative PronounsIn German

German demonstrative pronouns come, are used to point to things or people: this table, this grandma, these geese.

dieser Tisch

diese Gänse

Just like other German pronouns and nouns in general, demonstrative decline. This makes things a little bit more difficult than many English speakers used to, but don't worry, it's not too difficult.

Ready?

What's a pronoun?

Generally speaking, pronouns are words that can be used to replace nouns. The following sentence, for example, contains two nouns: die Oma and den Wein:

nominative

Die Oma

+

subject

trinkt

+

action

accusative

den Wein.

.

object

---

Let's now see how the nouns in this sentence can be replaced with German demonstrative pronouns.

What are demonstrative pronouns?

So, what are demonstrative pronouns? Demonstrative pronouns are the little words that indicate this or that. You can think of demonstrative pronouns as pointing to something: This chair, that grandma & those geese.

Let's take the sentence from above and say that the grandma is drinking this wine - as opposed to some other wines that might be on the table:

personal pronoun

Sie

+

pronoun

trinkt

+

demonstrative pronoun

diesen

+

pronoun

Wein.

.

Easy enough, right?

Demonstrative Pronouns & Declension

Nominative Case

Here is a grammar table for the demonstrative pronouns in the nominative case:

Accusative Case

Now let's take a look at the same grammar table for demonstrative pronouns, but with the addition of the accusative case:

Once again, only the masculine demonstrative pronoun changes in the accusative case (by swapping the -r with an -n at the end of the word).

With the table above in mind, guess which demonstrative pronoun could replace the noun in the accusative case, in these example sentences.

Demonstrative Pronouns Exercises

Let's practice all of what you have learned this lesson, with some exercises.

Exercise 1

In this exercise, you are asked to pick the correct demonstrative pronoun to replace the article:

Exercise 2

In this next exercise, the articles aren't given! Try to figure out yourself which demonstrative pronoun might fit:

Exercise 3

Have a look at the sentences below. Using the table above to help you, write the correct demonstrative pronoun in each input.

Pay special attention to the gender of the nouns or whether they are singular or plural.

Well done! 🎉

We have now covered demonstrative pronouns in both the nominative and accusative cases!