German accusative pronouns: mich, dich, ihn.

Pronouns in the accusative case

When a pronoun receives the action of a verb as a direct object, it takes the accusative form. Notice that only er changes to ihn in the third person singular, while sie and es stay the same.

• Ich kenne ihn.I know him.
• Besuchst du mich am Wochenende?Are you visiting me on the weekend?

Verbs with accusative objects and position

Common daily verbs like anrufen, abholen, sehen, lieben, fragen, and brauchen require an accusative object. In a normal main clause, this pronoun object stands right after the conjugated verb.

• Ich rufe dich am Nachmittag an.I am calling you in the afternoon.
• Holt er uns am Freitag ab?Is he picking us up on Friday?

Pronouns after für and ohne

The prepositions für and ohne always take an accusative object. Any pronoun placed directly after these two prepositions must appear in its accusative form.

• Ich habe einen Termin ohne dich.I have an appointment without you.
• Das Datum ist gut für mich.The date is good for me.

Exceptions to remember

• Only er changes in the third person singular, whereas sie and es keep their nominative form. Ich brauche das Buch, ich lese es heute.
• Never use the subject pronoun du when the person is the object of the action. Ich sehe dich am Montag.
• In separable verbs, the pronoun object sits next to the main verb, not after the separated prefix. Wir holen ihn am Nachmittag ab.

Practice it in the course

This rule is chapter 22 of 31 in the A1 German course in Langvie, after German separable verbs and before The German perfect tense with haben. In the app the chapter goes on with 8 exercises and a short spoken conversation with an AI partner, which opens with Hallo! Ich rufe dich morgen an, okay? Und wann besuchst du mich?

Choose the correct accusative pronoun. Ich rufe ___ am Freitag an. (dich / du / ihr)

dich. Anrufen takes an accusative pronoun object. I am calling you on Friday.

Every A1 chapter, in course order