She, You and They in German

sie/Sie (confusing German word)

What do the words you, they and she mean in German?

Here are the three meanings of the German word ‘sie/Sie’

she = sie
they = sie
you (polite) = Sie

And to make it not too easy (just kidding) you have to know that we have two different words in German for the English personal pronoun you:

1) du
2) Sie*

*Please note that it is always written with a capital S.

We use Sie (when we talk to strangers, our boss, waiters, authority figures like police officers or in general when we talk to people who we don’t know so well.

We use the word du when we talk to people who we know very well for example our friends and family and we use it when we talk to kids.

1. Read and listen to the content several times.
2. Repeat each phrase after the speaker.
3. Focus on accurately imitating the speaker’s pronunciation.
4. Once you’ve practiced a few times, move on to Part B (further below).

Tip: Always visualize the situations in your mind; this will help you remember the words better!

Have a look at the example sentences and you will understand the differences: 

sie = she

Maria trinkt gerne Wasser.
Maria likes to drink water.

Sie trinkt gerne Wasser.
She likes to drink water.

_ _ _

sie = they

Männer trinken gerne Bier.
Men like to drink beer.

Sie trinken gerne Bier.
They like to drink beer.

_ _ _

Sie = you (polite)

Talking to a stranger:
Können Sie mir helfen?
Could you help me?

_ _ _

du = you (familiar)

Talking to a friend:
Kannst du mir helfen?
Could you help me?

_ _ _

Sie = you (polite)

Talking to a stranger:
Entschuldigen Sie!
Excuse me!

Sie stehen in einer Pfütze.
You are standing in a puddle.

_ _ _

du = you (familiar)

Talking to a friend:
Hey, du stehst in einer Pfütze.
Hey, you are standing in a puddle.

Can you pronounce the word ‘Pfütze‘ that appears in the last sentence?

Did you notice the u umlaut?

Follow the pink link and I’ll show you how the umlauts are pronounced correctly.

🎓 She, You and They in German – Exercise B

The Best Way to Practice with Part B

Question and Answer Section:

1. Listen to and read the questions and answers multiple times.
2. Try to answer during the pauses (you can refer to the answers if needed).
3. After a few rounds, challenge yourself to answer without looking at the answers.
4. Focus on imitating my pronunciation closely.
5. Keep repeating the lesson until you can easily answer all the questions.

Questions and Answers 

Frage:
Was trinkt Maria gerne – Wasser oder Limonade?

Kurze Antwort:
Wasser 

Lange Antwort:
Maria trinkt gerne Wasser.

Wer (who) trinkt gerne Wasser? 

Maria
Maria trinkt gerne Wasser.

Was trinken Babys gerne? 

Milch
Babys trinken gerne Milch.
Und sie trinken besonders gerne (particularly fond of) Muttermilch (breast milk).

Trinken Männer auch gerne Muttermilch? 

Nein, natürlich nicht (of course not).
Männer trinken doch keine Muttermilch.

Was trinken Männer gerne? 

Bier
Männer trinken gerne Bier.
Das weiß doch jedes Baby.
(Every baby knows that.)

Was ist in einer Regenpfütze* – Wasser oder Limonade? 

Wasser
In einer Regenpfütze ist Wasser.
Keine Limonade.
Also niemals aus einer Pfütze trinken! (So never drink from a puddle!)

*Regenpfütze is a compound word. We have the word Regen (rain) and Pfütze (puddle) in it. We Germans love compound words.

Do you know the word: Windschutzscheibenwaschanlage? = windscreen washer

Crazy isn’t it?

The „pf“ Sound in German

The „pf“ sound is not easy!

And it is ok if you just use an F-sound instead of a PF-sound.

p + f = pf 

Pfütze, Pfütze oder sage einfach Pfütze (mit einem F-Laut).

Pfütze, Pfütze or just say Pfütze (with an F–sound).

Pferd, Pferd oder Pferd (mit einem F-Laut).

Pferd, Pferd or Pferd (with an F-sound).

(Das Pferd = the horse)

Don’t worry about the difficult pronunciation!

You will get better and better, you just need a lot of practice.

Es ist noch kein Meister vom Himmel gefallen!

Means: No one is born a master!

And by the way, don’t worry about your accent. I have an accent too.

Whenever I talk English I have a German accent – so what? I don’t care!

After all I’m German and not English.

Nobody needs to be perfect!

How to conjugate the regular verb ‘trinken’

Here is a little bonus:

We used the word trinken (to drink) above and I want to show you how to conjugate this regular verb:

Und nur zum Üben (just for practice):

Ich trinke

Du trinkst

Er, sie, es trinkt

Wir trinken

Ihr trinkt

Sie trinken

Is your German class fun?

Is your German class as boring as watching a banana take a nap? Well, drop out or try to change the atmosphere, because learning German has to be fun!