Session 12 — H-Vocabulary, Pronoun Cases & Formal/Informal Address
Monday, 13 July 2026 · with Sabahat Batool · Object pronoun case + Sie/du address
Builds on Sessions 8–11: you already know Akkusativ and Dativ articles for nouns.
Today: the same case logic, but on pronouns — ihm, ihr, uns (Dativ) vs
ihn, dich (Akkusativ) — plus when to say Sie instead of du.
Part 1 · Workbook review — H-vocabulary (page 5 of 16)
Like you're five: four everyday H-words from the workbook, reviewed as warm-up before the case drills.
| German | English |
|---|---|
| das Haus | house |
| das Handy | phone |
| der Hafen | harbor |
| der Hals | neck |
Part 2 · Pronoun case roles — same three questions, now on pronouns
You already sort nouns by Wer? / Wen? / Wem?. Personal pronouns follow the exact same three
roles — they just swap shape completely instead of just changing an article.
| Sentence | Case being practiced |
|---|---|
| Ich gebe ihm eine Schokolade. (I give him a chocolate.) | Dativ (indirect object) |
| Ich gebe uns eine Schokolade. | Dativ |
| Ich gebe ihr eine Schokolade. | Dativ |
| Sie ist Studentin. (She is a student.) | Nominativ |
| Ich finde ihn nett. (I find him nice.) | Akkusativ |
| Ich suche dich. (I'm looking for you.) | Akkusativ |
Quick test: “giving” verbs (geben, bringen, schenken) almost always want a Dativ pronoun for
the receiver. “Finding/searching” verbs (finden, suchen) want Akkusativ for the thing/person found.
Der Kellner bringt mir Tee.
The waiter brings me tea — mir is Dativ (receiver).
More scenarios practiced in class: a man gives his girlfriend flowers, pays for his sister's food, a teacher gives a
student homework — each has a Dativ receiver and an Akkusativ (or unmarked) thing given.
Part 3 · Formal vs informal address — Sie vs du
Like you're five: German has two words for “you” depending on how close you are to the person.
| Form | When to use | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Sie (capitalized) | strangers, formal situations, older people, service staff | Capital S every time — even mid-sentence |
| du | friends, family, other students, children | lowercase |
Capitalization signals meaning here: Sie (formal you) vs sie (she/they) look
identical except for the capital letter — always capitalize the formal Sie.
Part 4 · Roleplay patterns from class
Practiced switching between formal and informal in three everyday situations.
Formal: Möchten Sie eine Pizza bestellen?
Informal: Möchtest du eine Pizza bestellen? — ordering pizza
Liebst du deinen Mann?
Do you love your husband? — informal, personal question
Isst du gern Spaghetti?
Do you like eating spaghetti? — informal, casual invite topic
Also practiced: inviting a friend to the cinema (das Theater), and giving gifts.
Session 12 recap
If you remember only 5 things
- Pronoun case follows the same 3 roles as nouns: Nominativ (subject) · Akkusativ (direct object) · Dativ (indirect/receiver).
- Giving verbs (geben, bringen, schenken) → Dativ pronoun for the receiver (mir, dir, ihm, ihr, uns, euch, ihnen).
- Finding/searching verbs (finden, suchen) → Akkusativ pronoun (mich, dich, ihn, sie, es, uns, euch, sie).
- Sie (capital S) = formal you; du = informal you.
- H-vocab: Haus, Handy, Hafen, Hals — workbook page 5 of 16.
Source: sessions/2026-07-13-mon — Read AI meeting summary + Google Doc "Notes by Gemini". A short portion of the transcript contained unclear speech-to-text artifacts and was omitted.