Sie

See also: Appendix:Variations of "sie"

Bavarian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Sie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si(ː)/, (stressed) [siː], (unstressed) [sɪ], [se]

Pronoun

Sie

1. you (formal)

Usage notes

In Bavarian the formal pronoun Sie is used less often than in Standard German. It can be used in both singular and plural, but it's even less common in the plural.

Sie has mostly been used towards strangers, especially those who don't speak Bavarian, as they would consider the Bavarian usage of du as rude; however, it is becoming more common by the influence of Standard German.

See also

Bavarian personal pronouns

		nominative		accusative		dative
		stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed
1st person singular		i	—	mi	—	mia (mir)	ma
2nd person singular	informal	du	—	di	—	dia (dir)	da
	formal	Sie	—	Eahna	—	Eahna	—
3rd person singular	m	er	a	eahm	'n	eahm	'n
	n	es, des	's	des	's
	f	se, de	's	se	's	ihr	—
1st person plural		mia (mir)	ma	uns	—	uns	—
2nd person plural		eß, ihr	—	enk, eich	—	enk, eich	—
3rd person plural		se	's	eahna	—	eahna	—

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

From Proto-Indo-European language promoninal stem -i and initial s. In the early Germanic languages, the sie is formed according to the above pattern, compare Gothic language si. The si/se was originally used to strengthen demonstrative pronouns, which is still preserved today in dieser, diese, dieses. The sie probably found its way into German primarily via the Old Saxon se, which developed as a plural form of the simple demonstrative thia. In Old High German, the forms si and sie are then found, which are also retained in Middle High German. In Modern High German, the many alternative forms (e.g. Middle Low German se) disappeared in favor of the modern sie. Due to the grammatical equality of sie and Sie, the capitalization of the pronoun came into use in the 17th century to differentiate between them when used as a form of address.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ziː/

• 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?

   Wenn ich Sie hereinbitten dürfte, meine Herren.

   If I may invite you in, gentlemen.

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").
• The Sie is the standard form of address to a stranger and should therefore always be used initially. Despite the increasing use of the du, an unauthorized du can be considered impolite.
• In standard German, Sie is usually used with the surname. However, younger people are also addressed by their first name. The combination of first name and Sie is mainly used in secondary schools (usually from the Abitur onwards).

• 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

	singular					plural			sing. and pl.
	1st person	2nd person familiar1	3rd person			1st person	2nd person familiar1	3rd person	2nd person polite/formal
			m	f	n
nominative	ich	du -e2	er	sie -se2	es	wir	ihr	sie -se2	Sie Ihr3
genitive	meiner mein3	deiner dein3	seiner sein3	ihrer	seiner sein3	unser	euer	ihrer	Ihrer Euer3
dative	mir	dir	ihm	ihr	ihm	uns	euch	ihnen	Ihnen Euch3
accusative	mich	dich	ihn	sie -se2	es	uns	euch	sie -se2	Sie Euch3

¹These forms are sometimes capitalized, especially in letters.    ²enclitic, colloquial    ³archaic

• 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. you (polite)

Declension

Pennsylvania German personal pronouns

Number	singular						plural
Person/ Gender	1st	2nd person		3rd person			1st	2nd	3rd
		familiar	polite/formal	m	f	n
nominative	ich	du de1	dihr der1 Sie	er	sie se1	es	mir mer1	dihr der1	sie
dative	mir mer1	dir der1	eich Ihne Ne1	ihm em1	ihre re1	ihm em1	uns	eich	ihne ne1
accusative	mich	dich	eich Sie	ihn en1	sie se1	es			sie

¹ unstressed