ihr

See also: Ihr

German

Pronunciation

• (standard) IPA^(key): /ʔiːɐ̯/

• (file)

• (Bavaria)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːɐ̯

• (colloquially in unstressed position) IPA^(key): /ɐ/

Etymology 1

From Middle High German ir, from Old High German ir, from West Germanic *jīz, variant of Proto-Germanic *jūz, from Proto-Indo-European *yū́. Cognate with Low German ji, jie, Yiddish איר‎‎ (ir‎), Dutch jij, gij, je, English ye, Gothic 𐌾𐌿𐍃 (jūs).

Pronoun

ihr pl

1. you, ye (plural, familiar)

Inflection

German personal pronouns

		nominative	accusative	genitive	dative	possessive
1st person singular		ich	mich	meiner († mein)	mir	mein
2nd person singular (familiar)1		du (-e)	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 (mir)	uns	unser	uns	unser
2nd person plural (familiar)1		ihr	euch	euer	euch	euer
3rd person plural		sie		ihrer	ihnen	ihr
polite address	naturally: 2nd person sg. or pl.; grammatically: 2nd person pl.	Ihr	Euch	Euer	Euch	Euer
	naturally: 2nd person sg. or pl.; grammatically: 3rd person pl.	Sie		Ihrer	Ihnen	Ihr

¹Often capitalized, especially in letters

In older language the genitive is also written ewer and the accusative and dative sometimes ewch.

Usage notes

• This form is the plural of du, which is used chiefly towards people with whom one is privately acquainted (see there). One uses ihr towards a group of people if one would address every individual in that group with du. However, the plural ihr is somewhat less familiar than the singular du, meaning that it can sometimes be used in semi-formal situations where du towards an individual would not be appropriate. Learners should still, in any case of doubt, use Sie in order to be on the safe side.
• The form Ihr (capitalized in writing) was formerly the polite second-person form for both singular and plural (compare French vous and Early Modern English you) and was used instead of contemporary Sie. Such usage still survives dialectally in some areas, and is encountered in historical contexts (e.g. fiction taking place in the distant past), but is otherwise rarely heard in standard German.
• As with all personal pronouns, the genitive case is very rare. It is used only in literary and formal style as a genitive object with: verbs such as entbehren and gedenken; and certain adjectives.
• In the late 18th century and in the first half of the 19th century, the genitive was also eurer instead of euer, e.g. ich erinnere mich eurer instead of ich erinnere mich euer.

Etymology 2

From Old High German iru, iro.

Pronoun

ihr

1. dative of sie

   Hast du ihr das Buch gegeben?

   Did you give her the book?

Etymology 3

From Old High German ira.

Determiner

ihr

1. her (possessive)
2. its (when the owning object/article/thing/animal etc., referred to, is feminine)

Inflection

Declension of ihr
	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
nominative	ihr	ihre	ihr	ihre
genitive	ihres	ihrer	ihres	ihrer
dative	ihrem	ihrer	ihrem	ihren
accusative	ihren	ihre	ihr	ihre

Etymology 4

From Old High German iro.

Determiner

ihr

1. their

Inflection

Declension of ihr
	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
nominative	ihr	ihre	ihr	ihre
genitive	ihres	ihrer	ihres	ihrer
dative	ihrem	ihrer	ihrem	ihren
accusative	ihren	ihre	ihr	ihre

References