Sie

See also: sie, šie, and się

Central Franconian

Alternative forms

• Siet (northernmost Ripuarian)
• Sick (Kölsch)
• Seck (most other Ripuarian)
• Seit (Moselle Franconian)

Etymology

From Old High German *sīda, northern variant of sīta, from Proto-Germanic *sīdǭ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ziː/

Noun

Sie f (plural Sijje)

1. (westernmost Ripuarian) side

   Jank op Sie! ― Go aside!

2. (westernmost Ripuarian) page

---

German

Alternative forms

• -se, Se (colloquial, rare spelling)

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ziː/
• IPA^(key): /zə/ (colloquial)

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophones: sie, sieh
• Rhymes: -iː

Pronoun

Sie

1. you (polite; singular and plural)

   Was möchten Sie, Frau Wagner?

   What would you like to have, Mrs. Wagner?

Usage notes

• The German Sie expresses distance in the relation between two persons. It is not perfectly correct to say that it expresses respect. Sie has never been used to address gods and saints. Towards parents it was only briefly used during the 18th century by some of the upper classes. (In both of these cases, however, Ihr was formerly possible alongside du.) Even royal highnesses used to be addressed as du, albeit not personally but in songs and poems (compare the famous "Heil dir im Siegerkranz").
• Sie is identical in form to the third person plural pronoun sie (“they”) and takes the same verb form. The "polite" Sie is distinguished in writing by capitalization. The only form which is not capitalized is the reflexive sich. When addressing a person with Sie, one generally needs to replace the third person plural pronoun with the demonstrative die ("those ones") to avoid confusion: Wissen Sie, was die zu mir gesagt haben? − “Do you know what they said to me?”

Declension

German personal pronouns

		nominative	accusative	genitive	dative	possessive
1st person singular		ich4	mich	meiner mein3	mir	mein
2nd person singular (familiar)1		du (-e)	dich	deiner dein3	dir	dein
2nd person singular (polite)6	m verbs conjugated according to 3rd person sg. er	er	ihn	seiner sein3	ihm	sein
3rd person singular	m	er	ihn	seiner sein3	ihm	sein
	f	sie se5, -se5		ihrer	ihr
	n	es		seiner sein3	ihm	sein
1st person plural		wir4 (mir)	uns	unser	uns	unser
2nd person sg. or pl. (elevated2)	verbs conjugated according to 2nd person pl. ihr	Ihr	Euch	Euer	Euch	Euer
2nd person plural (familiar)1		ihr	euch	euer	euch	euer
2nd person sg. or pl. (polite)7	verbs conjugated according to 3rd person pl. sie	Sie		Ihrer	Ihnen	Ihr
3rd person plural		sie		ihrer	ihnen	ihr

¹often capitalized, especially in letters    ²archaic (ihrzen)    ³dated    ⁴capitalised in royal usage    ⁵enclitic, colloquial ⁶archaic (erzen), sometimes capitalised ⁷(siezen)

• The genitive case Ihrer is more and more rarely used in modern German.
• The genitive case Ihrer does not express ownership, so it must not be confused with the possessive pronoun Ihr, which is declined by gender, singular/plural and case.

Derived terms

• siezen

Anagrams

• Eis

---

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

Compare German Sie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

Sie

1. polite form of du; you

Declension

Declension of Sie

	Nominative	Accusative	Dative
1st - Singular	ich	mich	mir mer (unstressed)
2nd - Singular	du de (unstressed)	dich	dir der (unstressed)
3rd - Singular Masculine	er	ihn en (unstressed)	ihm em (unstressed)
3rd - Singular Feminine	sie se (unstressed)	sie se (unstressed)	ihre re (unstressed)
3rd - Singular Neuter	es	es	ihm em (unstressed)
1st - Plural	mir mer (unstressed)	uns	uns
2nd - Plural	dihr der (unstressed)	eich	eich
3rd - Plural	sie	sie	ihne ne (unstressed)
2nd - Polite	Sie	Sie	Ihne Ne (unstressed)