Indefinite pronouns
Indefinitpronomen
Indefinite pronouns point to people or things without saying exactly who or what: man, jemand, etwas, alle.
The German versions of English words like “someone, everyone, no one, some”.
Right now: there’s a word for everything
ShortcutIndefinite pronouns save you when you don’t want to say (or don’t know) exactly who or what you mean. man means people in general, jemand/niemand means someone/no one, etwas/nichts means something/nothing.
- man one · you · they GENERAL SUBJECT
- jemand · niemand someone · no one FOR PEOPLE
- etwas · nichts something · nothing FOR THINGS
Hier darf man nicht rauchen.
You can’t smoke here.
Ist jemand da?
Is anyone there?
Ich habe nichts gesehen.
I didn’t see anything.
You already do this in English (with a different word)
In English we often skip the real subject and say “you can’t smoke here”, “one doesn’t say that”, “they say it’s going to rain” — or we switch to the passive: “Smoking isn’t allowed.” German sentences must have a subject, and the word that plays this role is “man”. It is the German “you/one/they”.
| English (hidden subject) | German (man) | Use |
|---|---|---|
| This is how it’s done. | Das macht man so. | general rule |
| You can’t smoke here. | Hier darf man nicht rauchen. | ban / rule |
| How do you get there? | Wie kommt man dahin? | directions |
man (lower case) is conjugated like the 3rd person singular (er/sie/es). Don’t confuse it with “der Mann” (the man).
Wie sagt es auf Deutsch?
How do you say it in German?
Wie sagt man auf Deutsch?
How do you say it in German?
Table: jemand, alle and the irgend- family
Most of these pronouns change with the case, just like nouns do.
| Pronoun | Meaning | Akkusativ | Dativ |
|---|---|---|---|
| jemand | someone | jemanden | jemandem |
| niemand | no one | niemanden | niemandem |
| jeder (like der) | everyone / each | jeden | jedem |
| alle (plural) | everyone / all | alle | allen |
etwas and nichts do not change. manche, einige, viele, wenige take plural endings.
irgend- is a prefix that makes things even vaguer: irgendjemand (anyone at all), irgendwo (somewhere or other), irgendwann (at some point).
Ich brauche alle Stift.
I need all the pens.
Ich brauche alle Stifte.
I need all the pens.
Two places people go wrong
man vs Mann
Hier darf Mann nicht rauchen.
The man may not smoke here (wrong use).
Hier darf man nicht rauchen.
You can’t smoke here (people in general).
jeder vs alle
Alle Person ist wichtig.
Person is singular, alle needs a plural.
Jede Person ist wichtig.
Every person is important.
Alle Personen sind wichtig.
All people are important.
jeder goes with singular nouns, alle with plural nouns.
What you just learned
Ich brauche ___ Zeit.
Show the answer
etwas. It is used for amounts of uncountable nouns and means “some / a little”.
Ich helfe niemanden. — this sentence is grammatically correct.
Show the answer
False. helfen takes the Dativ: Ich helfe niemandem. niemanden is the Akkusativ form.
Hier ___ man nicht parken.
Show the answer
darf. man is always conjugated like the 3rd person singular (er/sie/es).
The part nobody tells you: skipping the jemand endings
In everyday German you will hear plain jemand and niemand instead of jemanden (Akk) and jemandem (Dat). This form is not wrong; Duden accepts it.
Hast du jemand gesehen?
Common in everyday speech and not wrong; in writing, the inflected jemanden looks more careful.
Still, in writing and in exams the inflected form is recommended: jemanden, niemandem look more careful.
Build the sentence yourself
Tap the words and put them in order. This is the hardest part of German — and there are no options to pick from, you build it.
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Know this before the test
The core of the topic in three lines, then the mistakes people make most often.
- man is conjugated like er/sie/es
The general subject man always takes the 3rd person singular verb form.
Man spricht Deutsch.
- jeder is singular, alle is plural
jeder/jede/jedes goes with singular nouns, alle with plural nouns.
Jeder Tag ist schön. Alle Tage sind schön.
- jemand and niemand take case endings
Add -en for the Akkusativ and -em for the Dativ.
Ich sehe jemanden. Ich helfe jemandem.
Man können das machen.
Man kann das machen.
man is not plural; it takes the 3rd person singular form.
Alle Kind spielt.
Jedes Kind spielt. (or: Alle Kinder spielen.)
alle cannot be used with a singular noun.
Test yourself
Tap an answer — we will look at why together.
Hier man nicht parken.
You can’t park here.
Ich habe gestern getroffen.
I met someone yesterday.
Hast du geholfen?
Did you help someone?
Which one is wrong?
Ich kann sehen. Es ist zu dunkel.
I can’t see anything.
ist hier. Der Raum ist leer.
No one is here. The room is empty.
Practice done — –
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Indefinite pronouns worksheet
This whole page — tables, traps, examples — as one PDF. Download it, print it, run through it before the exam.
Related topics
Pronouns
mich or mir?
mich or mir — the full pronoun table and which case turns up when.
kein & nicht
Ich habe kein Auto
kein and nicht are the two basic German negation words: kein negates a noun (Ich habe kein Auto), nicht negates everything else.
Adjective endings
guter · gute · gutes · guten
German adjective endings are the letters an adjective takes when it stands in front of a noun: guter, gute, gutes, guten.