sie

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See also: się and Sie

English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English sien, from Old English sīgan ‎(“to pass from a higher to a lower position, sink, descend, decline, fall, fall down, move towards a point, advance, go, go to, approach, ooze, run as matter, strain, filter, act as a filter”), from Proto-Germanic *sīganą, *sīhwaną ‎(“to strain, drop”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyk- ‎(“to pour, strain”). Cognate with Dutch zijgen ‎(“to filter”), German seihen ‎(“to strain, sieve”), Icelandic síga ‎(“to lower”).

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

sie ‎(third-person singular simple present sies, present participle sying, simple past and past participle sied)

  1. (intransitive) To sink; fall; drop.
  2. (intransitive) To fall, as in a swoon; faint.
  3. (intransitive, dialectal) To drop, as water; trickle.
  4. (transitive) To sift.
  5. (transitive, dialectal) To strain, as milk; filter.

Noun[edit]

sie ‎(plural sies)

  1. A drop.
Related terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

sie ‎(third person singular, gender-neutral, nominative case, accusative sir, possessive adjective hir, possessive noun hirs, reflexive hirself)

  1. (neologism) Gender-neutral (or multigendered) subject pronoun, grammatically equivalent to the gendered pronouns he and she, or singular they
    • 1993 September 24, Alex Martelli, "punishment vs ethics (was Re: Discipline my daughters)", in alt.sex.bondage, Usenet:
      If the child is about the intellectual equal of the parent, sie will eventually start holding hir own in discussions, […]
    • 2010 September 16, Jessica Freely, Amaranth and Ash[1], La Vergne: Lightning Source, ISBN 9781461136620, page 101:
      "You must be Ash," sie said, hir voice a shade deeper than Amaranth's.
    • 2011 May 19, Ken Wickham, The Other Genders: Androgyne, Genderqueer, Non-Binary Gender Variant[2], CreateSpace, ISBN 9781461136620, page 7:
      Sie may feel that hir actual identity of hir gender is supposed to be both/neither male or female, outside of gender, third gender, beyond gender, absence of gender, mixing gender, changing gender, or all genders.
    • 2011 August 16, Petra Kuppers, Disability Culture and Community Performance: Find a Strange and Twisted Shape[3], New York: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 9780230298279, LCCN 2011012058, LCC PN1590.H36 K87 2011, page 18:
      When I asked hir about hir preferred self-identification in this scene, sie offered me this language, 'sie sharply performs the hotness of teasing all the audience from the edge-space of androgyny.'
Synonyms[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

See also[edit]

Chibcha[edit]

Noun[edit]

sie

  1. water

References[edit]

  • Comparative Chibchan Phonology (1981)

Finnish[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

sie (stem siu-)

  1. (personal, dialectal, including Kven) you (singular; in archaic English: thou).

Synonyms[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

German[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (colloquially in unstressed position) IPA(key): /zə/

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old High German siu; cognate with Gothic 𐍃𐌹 ‎(si) and Old English sēo ‎(“that one (f.)”).

Pronoun[edit]

sie f

  1. she
  2. it (when the object/article/thing/animal etc., referred to, is feminine (die))
Inflection[edit]
German personal pronouns
nominative accusative genitive dative possessive
1st person singular ich mich meiner
(† mein)		 mir mein
2nd person singular (familiar)1 du dich deiner
(† dein)		 dir dein
3rd person singular m er ihn seiner
(† sein)		 ihm sein
f sie ihrer ihr
n es seiner
(† sein)		 ihm sein
1st person plural wir uns unser uns unser
2nd person plural (familiar) ihr euch euer euch euer
3rd person plural sie ihrer ihnen ihr
polite address naturally: 2. person sg. or pl.;
grammatically: 3. person pl.		 Sie Ihrer Ihnen Ihr

1Often capitalized, especially in letters

  • The genitive case ihrer is more and more rarely used in modern German.
  • While the genitive of personal pronouns does express ownership, it must not be confused with possessive pronouns. While possessive pronouns such as ihr are put in front of the noun they relate to and follow the inflection rules of adjectives, the genitive form of personal pronouns has only one form, which is not further inflected. Additionally, personal pronouns in the genitive can be put after the word they relate to.

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old High German sie (masculine plural), sio (feminine plural), siu (neuter plural).

Pronoun[edit]

sie pl

  1. they; them
Inflection[edit]
German personal pronouns
nominative accusative genitive dative possessive
1st person singular ich mich meiner
(† mein)		 mir mein
2nd person singular (familiar)1 du dich deiner
(† dein)		 dir dein
3rd person singular m er ihn seiner
(† sein)		 ihm sein
f sie ihrer ihr
n es seiner
(† sein)		 ihm sein
1st person plural wir uns unser uns unser
2nd person plural (familiar) ihr euch euer euch euer
3rd person plural sie ihrer ihnen ihr
polite address naturally: 2. person sg. or pl.;
grammatically: 3. person pl.		 Sie Ihrer Ihnen Ihr

1Often capitalized, especially in letters

Usage notes[edit]

  • In the colloquial speech of some areas, this pronoun is used only enclitically after a verb, as an ending /zə/. E.g. 'hamse', 'könnse'. Stressed instances are replaced with the demonstrative pronoun die. This reflects a similar development for es/das.
  • While the genitive of personal pronouns does express ownership, it must not be confused with possessive pronouns. While possessive pronouns such as ihr are put in front of the noun they relate to and follow the inflection rules of adjectives, the genitive form of a personal pronoun has only one form, which is not further inflected. Additionally, personal pronouns in the genitive can be put after the word they relate to.

Anagrams[edit]

External links[edit]

  • sie in Duden online

Karelian[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

sie

(Stem: si-)

  1. (personal) you (singular)

Synonyms[edit]

Middle Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

sie

  1. Alternative form of si (both feminine singular and all plural)

Old Saxon[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

sie m, f

  1. she (accusative)
  2. they

Descendants[edit]

  • Low German: se

Declension[edit]

Old Saxon personal pronouns
Personal pronouns
Singular 1. 2. 3. m 3. f 3. n
Nominative ik thū hē sīu it
Accusative mī, mik thī, thik ina sīa
Dative mī thī imu iru it
Genitive mīn thīn is ira is, sīn
Dual 1. 2. - - -
Nominative wit git - - -
Accusative unk ink - - -
Dative
Genitive unkaro inka - - -
Plural 1. 2. 3. m 3. f 3. n
Nominative wī gī sīa sīa sīu
Accusative ūs iu
Dative im
Genitive ūsa iuwa iro
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