difference between du and sie in german

Have a look at the example sentences and you will understand the differences: sie = she Maria trinkt gerne Wasser. "Du bist" means "you are", but "sie sind" means "they are". German Language Stack Exchange is a bilingual question and answer site for speakers of all levels who want to share and increase their knowledge of the German language. Ich habe dieses Fahrrad seit Mai. Also, sie is used for she and for they. I also talk a little . Welcome to Lesson #4 in my new Beginner German series. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. . This is standard across all modal verbs, also known as modal auxiliaries. The rule of thumb that I use for this is Do I address this person as Mr. or Mrs. Whoevertheyare or do I use their first name? The verb form it takes is conjugated in the 3rd person singular. Have a look at our grammar chapters about cases (Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative) and let me know if you need more examples . Read More Earth Apple: The Potato in Five LanguagesContinue. Let me show you a few examples side-by-side with each of the forms, so you can see this more clearly. Test our online language courses for free for 7 days and receive a free personal level assessment. The most common ones would include: Sie knnen gerne du zu mir sagen.Sie knnen mich ruhig duzen. randoms on the street, shopkeepers, drivers, When dealing with someone in authority (e.g. Hi Sam, You mentioned going through the audio lessons. While you analyze where you stand on the Sie to du spectrum with your various German elders, lets turn to the workplace. Gehst du nach Hause? For example, you are drinking/ you drink translates to. Du isnt necessarily informal. Above all remember, youre not alone. Du (singular) and ihr (plural) are used for informal relationships: family, friends, children and people of the same age. When capitalised, Sie means "you" in plural or singular form. Today I'm going to introduce you to the three versions of "you" in German: du, ihr and Sie. * With people similar age/situation to you that you dont know, e.g. +1 (612) 758-5200. http://www.dw.de/the-du-sie-dilemma-in-german/a-16494631, Mobile app infrastructure being decommissioned, Difference between singular and plural formal form of address. If theyre a bit older, its okay to switch to Sie. You might get a little tripped up in the cases section, e.g. When you cant switch them out, or at least it is less common to do so, is when you have another verb involved. "Sie haben" = You have. Ill explain when to use each one and show you a bit about conjugating verbs in German. You might say mit Sie instead of mit Ihnen for example. I enjoy doing my online language courses online. You will also get access to online flashcards and a whole lot more. * The figures are provided in accordance with the German regulation 'PKW-EnVKV' and apply to the German market only. Just a little insight in case you plan to work in Germany! Your waiter comes to your table to get your order. @DerPolyglott33 Also, please provide English translation of your examples as well for newbies like me. By that, we mean things like sports and hobbies. Capitalised Sie: This is the pronoun for the 2nd person singular formal. The good news is that it wont cause a fundamental misunderstanding, and rarely will it even slow a conversation down. For example. Within thee-book, each lesson includes a worksheet and answer key to practice the skills in that lesson. Your courses have helped me to progress and gain confidence during my travels. Both du and ihr mean you and are informal. As in English, German pronouns take a different form depending on case. You are asking for directions on the street. Ihr requires -t and du requires -st. Getting the subject and verb to match or agree is called conjugation. The first one is that their only difference is a letter. Most world languages have nouns that are either masculine or feminine. Wollen Sie ihn treffen? How has its pronunciation changed? Specifically, I wanted to know whether I should start out my stay with the more formal Sie form, and then gradually transition to the familiar du as we all got to know each other better. But naturally, theyre pronounced the same, and the standalone word is the same. This is a common question by people starting out in German. er/sie/es ist gewesen. er, sie, es mag - he, she, it mag wir mgen - we like ihr mgt - you like sie, Sie mgen - they, you like . How to say tschechisches Streichholzschchtelchen? Whether its with your in-laws or in the workplace, making the switch from the Sie form of address to Du is an age-old German dilemma. The reality is that context will make it very obvious. - I can identify the colors in German. Why do missiles typically have cylindrical fuselage and not a fuselage that generates more lift? If youre still confused, this article goes quite in-depth into when to use Sie and du. Join our editorial mailing list for weekly easy-to-read insights into language, culture, and distant destinations. You use Sie with strangers, especially when they are older. Share it with us! A decade into marriage, his husband exploded over a family board game, imploring his elderly parents to finally quit addressing their son-in-law with the Sie German form. Sometimes Germans find it confusing or unnatural too. It might be easier to understand when to use Sie, if you understand how to use du and ihr. I take it you mean " S ie sind", which is formal. Herr Mller, haben Sie den Vorschlag geschrieben?Mr. _ _ _ die Schnecke => sie Die Schnecke ist langsam. The snail is slow. Hi there, You can also use "dich" if you are talking to someone, for example when you say: "Ich liebe dich" (I love you). If you are saying you all, yall or you guys, you use ihr. Sie (formal singular and plural): Pretty much in every other situations, you use Sie.Sie is especially used with adult strangers, and generally among white-collar colleagues (office, bank, etc vs a blue-collar job) or other professional environment. There is always flexibility in each of the above situations. Sie trinkt gerne Wasser. My friends advised me to play it safe and start with the Sie form of address as a sign of respect before moving on to the du form. At least that day I learned two new-to-me verbs: duzen (to address with du) and siezen (to address with Sie). We gave a quick guide above about how to choose between du and Sie (and less-often used ihr). What's the grammatical difference between "trotz" und "trotzdem"? if youre in your 30s and youre talking to someone in their 20s) with du. Want to talk to your in-laws in their native language? Find out more about the e-book here. Your method is unique! Mller, did you write the proposal? The masculine definite article ("the") is der, the feminine is die, and the neuter form is das.German speakers have had many years to learn whether wagen (car) is der or die or das.It's der wagen, but for learners new to the language it's not so easy to know . The present tense verb form is almost always the same as the infinitive (the version you will see when you look up a verb in the dictionary). What exactly makes a black hole STAY a black hole. For everyone else, confusion reigned. But don't worry - the rule for when to use each of these three words is quite straight forward and easy to understand. Most textbooks don't cover the differences very well, and using the wrong word could potentially offend people, especially in a business context, so it's important to get it right. For stylistic and legibility reasons, 'f' and 'i' are often merged to create ' . They have different meanings depending on the context and wether the world is capitalized or not. What is the difference between "wie" and "was" in a certain context? In the workplace, superiors use du with employees. Choosing between the different formality levels is always a little unintuitive for people outside a culture. So, I hope this helped clear up the problem of the German second person forms. But you know intuitively that the following sentences sound weird: Its the same in German the form of you changes when its in a different part of a sentence, typically after a preposition (like with), or as the object of a verb. How do you say My eyes in German? An analysis of learning Farsi in Tajikistan (Tajik) or Afghanistan (Dari) or even at home as alternatives to studying Farsi in Iran, for people who cant travel there. What is the relative position of complements when there's a time adverb? * Several friends/family members/children/much younger people at once, e.g. And furthermore, how would I be able to tell when we were officially familiar enough to make the switch? Es fhrt schnell. as it is typically heard from supermarket employees (thus the name). - I can greet someone and say a farewell. You can also address children and anyone clearly younger than you (e.g. Site design / logo 2022 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Listen, dont let flattery lead you astray from formal German its no substitute for true familiarity. sie/Sie sind (they/you are) The use is the same as in English. The reason for this is that we personally try to avoid complex grammar terminology. In other instances, you may also encounter two further office Sie and du forms that seemingly make no sense. Stack Exchange network consists of 182 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Doing a search on this StackExchange shows how hard it can be and how there can be many different cases. Sie ist hei. The Weimar Republic (German: Weimarer Republik [vama epublik] ()), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclaimed itself, as the German Republic (Deutsche Republik). Geht ihr nach Hause? Gymglish has allowed me to improve my oral and written expression. The first time we met, hed more or less ordered Thomas to marry me. It's 100% free, no registration required. Well, apparently wed switched back, and Id missed the memo. Why do I get two different answers for the current through the 47 k resistor when I do a source transformation? Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube cha. . So just listen, and match duzen for duzen and siezen for siezen. They like to drink beer. While English only uses the term "you" to refer to a person, in German there is the option for "Sie" (formal) or "du" (informal). Habt ihr einen Hund zu Hause? Talking to your brother or your sister. (formal/polite/nonfamiliar) You can know it from the verb usage, or from the context; if you speak to an older person, or hear someone doing it to another, then you know they mean the third one.August 4, 2017Bob20020Yes they do! Nobody knows. It might be easier to understand when to use Sie, if you understand how to use du and ihr. Comparing Newtons 2nd law and Tsiolkovskys. And in the workplace, even between peers of the same age, an employee will use Sie with the one of longer tenure. Was kauft ihr online?Was kaufen Sie online? youre pulled over by a cop for speeding), In bureaucratic settings (e.g. "sie" with a small s is a german personal pronoun that means "she". Sie is for everyone else - at least until you make friends with them! Difference between 'das', 'der', 'die' and 'den' in the German language. The practice of saying du to someone (rather than a more formal pronoun) is described with the verb duzen. 7 Cheerful Ways to Say Good Morning in Italian! Hallo, Deutschlerner. The sun is hot. English for Beginners with RichMorningShow, Improve your vocabulary with Wordflashback. It is expected that the older person offers the younger person the du, not the other way around. _ _ _ die Sonne => sie Die Sonne ist hei. Du is the equivalent of calling someone by their first name and Sie is the same as Mr or Mrs, but in . In any other situation, the form of address will be the same for both speakers. I strongly suggest you learn these via examples. As a full-time freelancer, Ive never experienced either the Hamburger Sie or the Mnchner Du, but Im aware that my partners fathers company uses the latter. A few remarks though: You are has three forms: in the single if you're talking about one person (du bist), in the plural for more than one person (sie sind), and in the polite way (Sie sind). You might also like this guide to German manners and etiquette. A second reason to avoid thinking in cases at the early stage is that knowing which case to use cannot be trivially summarised. Ich sehe Sie = I see you, (mam) You don't have this . During the post-cake debriefing with Thomas, two key details cut through the brain freeze of embarrassment. Still facing difficulties with 'Du vs. Sie'? In order to offer the du form to someone, Germans use a variety of different phrases.

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