Sie vs sie vs sie – What’s the difference and how can you tell?

There are three different pronouns in German that are all written as s-i-e. When you hear the word “sie” in German, it could mean “she” or “they” or “you” or even “her”, “it” or “them”. So how do you figure out which one is meant and what is the real difference? That’s the topic of today’s Shallow German Deep Dive. 

The Basics

Let’s start with the basics. When you first start learning German one of the first things you are introduced to are personal pronouns. These are words like “ich” for “I” and “er” for “he”. Generally the list includes the following 9 words. 

ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie, Sie 

Three of those are s-i-e. The first one is translated as “she” and is the easiest to identify in sentences, because it requires the verb to end with a -t most of the time. Verbs like “machen” (to do or make) change to “macht” when used with the subject “sie” meaning “she”. 

The last two are a bit more tricky, because the verb form is the same. If the sentence is written, you might be able to tell the difference due to capitalization, because “Sie” meaning “you” is always capitalized, which means that when you see “Sie” capitalized in the middle of a sentence, you can be assured that the meaning is “you”. That falls apart, however, when the first word in the sentence is “Sie” or when you are just hearing it in conversation. You can’t capitalize words when speaking, although that would be cool. 

Both of these versions of “sie” require -en at the end of the verb, which tells you it is either “they” (lower case) or “you” (capitalized). This means that in most circumstances, the only way to tell the difference between “sie” (meaning “they”) and “Sie” (meaning “you”) is context. If you are addressing someone directly or someone is directly addressing you, the “Sie” used in those sentences is probably “you”, as this is what the context calls for. If, however, you are talking about a group of people in the third person (meaning not directly speaking to them) or you are talking about a noun that is plural, you probably need “they” as your translation. 

How to Figure Out Which Sie is Sie

Now that we have the concept outlined, let’s look at some examples that can help us really understand which witch is which. 

sie = she

Das ist meine Schwester. Sie hat einen neuen Hund. –
This is my sister. She has a new dog. 

In this sentence I am talking about my sister. She is not in this conversation, which means I am talking about her in the third person. The third person singular pronoun for a female person is “sie” meaning “she”. We can tell this based on the context in which the word was used, but also because of the conjugation of the verb “haben”. The “er, sie, es” form of the verb is “hat”. This means that the only translation for “sie” in this sentence is “she”. 

Sie = you

Haben Sie Kinder? –
Do you have children? 

This sentence is translated with “you”, because “Sie” is capitalized, but when said out loud, there would be no way to tell if the word “Sie” means “you” or “they”. To avoid any confusion, you would have to have more context. If you are talking directly to someone, it is appropriate to assume that this “Sie” means “you”.

sie = they

If you were talking about a couple that is not in the conversation, however, the only logical translation would be “they”, as you are asking about that couple rather than the person to whom the question was posed. For example: 

Mein Bruder und seine Frau lassen sich scheiden. –
My brother and his wife are getting divorced. 

Haben sie Kinder? –
Do they have children?

Let’s try another situation. 

Sie gehen nach Hause. –
They are going home. 

Why did I translate this “sie” with “they”? Simple, it is incredibly unlikely that you are saying “You are going home.” You could command them to go home, but then it would be more likely to see or hear the phrase “Gehen Sie nach Hause!” Although, technically, you can use “Sie gehen nach Hause!” as a command without using the official imperative structure. The conjugation of the verb tells us we don’t mean “she”. 

When “sie” is not “she”

I mentioned at the beginning of this lesson that “sie” can also be translated as “her”, “it” or “them”. That is because none of the “sie’s” on our list change in the accusative case. This makes things slightly more difficult, however, as the conjugation no longer tells us which “sie” we mean. Now we have to rely exclusively on context. 

Ich habe sie zu Hause gelassen. –
I left them/it at home. 

Because there is little context here, we can’t really tell if it is “them” or “it”. Basically we don’t know the number of things left at home. Without context, it would be almost always questioned by the German person as “Was hast du zu Hause gelassen?” Besides the lack of capitalization of “sie” in this sentence, we can also safely assume that we aren’t saying “I left you at home.” because you would likely be addressing someone who was left at your home with “du” and not “Sie”. 

Context is King

Kenne ich Sie? –
Do I know you? 

In this sentence, I only really know that the translation is “you”, because I capitalized the word “Sie”. If it were lower case, it could be either “them” or “it”. 

Kenne ich sie? –
Do I know them/it? 

If this is said out loud, there is no way to know if you mean “you”, “them” or “it” in this sentence. With a bit of context, however, we can figure it out. 

Sie kommen mir bekannt vor. Kenne ich Sie? –
You look familiar to me. Do I know you? 

Fred und Daphne? Kenne ich sie? –
Fred and Daphne? Do I know them? 

Du hast eine Schwester? Kenne ich sie? –
You have a sister? Do I know her? 

The Final Takeaway

Out of all of these examples, there is one key takeaway from this lesson. How do you know if “sie” means “you”, “they”, “them”, “she”, “her” or “it”? Context. It is all about context. 

All Shallow German Deep Dive Lessons

• in vs im
• eins vs eines vs ein