sie

See also: Sie, się, šie, Sië, and -sie

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English sien, from Old English sīgan (“to sink, descend”), 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

• sigh
• sey, sye (Scotland)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /saɪ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

Verb

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

sie (plural sies)

1. A drop.

Related terms

• sile

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/
• Homophones: c, cee, sea, see

Pronoun

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

1. (rare, nonstandard) Gender-neutral subject pronoun, grammatically equivalent to the gendered pronouns he and she
   • 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, 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, 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, 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.'

Alternative forms

• shi

Synonyms

• see Appendix:English third-person singular pronouns

Anagrams

• -ies, -ise, EIS, EIs, ESI, I'se, ISE, ies, sei

Chibcha

Noun

sie

1. water

References

• Comparative Chibchan Phonology (1981)

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsie̯/, [ˈs̠ie̞̯]
• Rhymes: -ie
• Syllabification^(key): sie

Pronoun

sie (stem siu-)

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

Synonyms

• sinä (standard Finnish)
• sä (colloquial)
• sää (dialectal)

Anagrams

• eis, esi-, ies, sei

German

Alternative forms

• se, -se (enclitic; colloquial)

Pronunciation

• (standard) IPA^(key): /ziː/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

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

Etymology 1

From Middle High German si, from Old High German siu, from Proto-West Germanic *sī, from Proto-Germanic *sī (see Proto-Germanic *iz). Cognate with Gothic 𐍃𐌹 (si) and Old English sēo (“that one (f.)”).

Pronoun

sie f

1. she

   Ist sie noch krank?

   Is she still sick?

   Das ist meine Katze. Sie heißt Lili.

   This is my cat. Her name is Lili.

   Ich suche Vanessa. Hast du sie gesehen?

   I'm looking for Vanessa. Have you seen her?

2. it (when the object/article/thing/animal etc., referred to, is feminine [die])

   Scheint die Sonne noch? Nein, sie ist schon untergegangen.

   Is the Sun still shining? No, it has already gone down.

   Ich suche meine Brieftasche. Hast du sie gesehen?

   I'm looking for my wallet. Have you seen it?

3. he (when the grammatical gender of the noun being referred to and designating a male person, is feminine [die])

   Die Geisel Richard Meier versuchte, sich zu befreien, aber sie schaffte es nicht.

   The hostage Richard Meier tried to break free, but he didn’t succeed.

   Die Wache Michael Müller beschädigte ihr Gewehr, wofür ihr Vorgesetzter sie bestrafte.

   The guardsman Michael Müller damaged his rifle, and his supervisor punished him for that.

Declension

German personal pronouns

	singular					plural			singular and plural
	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 mir3	ihr	sie -se2	Sie Ihr4
genitive	meiner mein4	deiner dein4	seiner sein4	ihrer	seiner sein4	unser	euer	ihrer	Ihrer Euer4
dative	mir	dir	ihm	ihr	ihm	uns	euch	ihnen	Ihnen Euch4
accusative	mich	dich	ihn	sie -se2	es			sie -se2	Sie Euch4

¹These forms are sometimes capitalized, especially in letters.    ²enclitic, colloquial    ³dialectal    ⁴archaic

• 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.

Related terms

• hatse (hat + -se)

Etymology 2

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

Pronoun

sie pl

1. they; them

Usage notes

• 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.

Declension

German personal pronouns

	singular					plural			singular and plural
	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 mir3	ihr	sie -se2	Sie Ihr4
genitive	meiner mein4	deiner dein4	seiner sein4	ihrer	seiner sein4	unser	euer	ihrer	Ihrer Euer4
dative	mir	dir	ihm	ihr	ihm	uns	euch	ihnen	Ihnen Euch4
accusative	mich	dich	ihn	sie -se2	es			sie -se2	Sie Euch4

¹These forms are sometimes capitalized, especially in letters.    ²enclitic, colloquial    ³dialectal    ⁴archaic

Further reading

• “sie” in Duden online
• “sie” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Anagrams

• sei
• Eis

Hunsrik

Alternative forms

• sii (Wiesemann spelling system)

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

sie

1. she

Inflection

Hunsrik personal pronouns

	nominative		accusative		dative
	Proclitic	Enclitic	str.	unstr.	str.	unstr.
1st person singular	ich eich	-ich	mich meich		meer	mer m'r
2nd person singular (informal)	du dau/Dau	-du, -de -Dau, -De	dich deich/Deich		deer	der d'r/D'r
3rd person singular (m.)	er; där	-er	ihn	en	ihm	em
3rd person singular (f.)	sie; die	-se	sie / ihns	se	eer ehr	re
3rd person singular (n.)	es; das et, 't	's	es et	-et, -'t	ihm	em
1st person plural	meer	mer	uns uhs
2nd person plural	deer Ehr, Dehr	der	eich Auch
3rd person plural	sie; die	-se	sie	se	denne

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

sie

1. they

Inflection

Hunsrik personal pronouns

	nominative		accusative		dative
	Proclitic	Enclitic	str.	unstr.	str.	unstr.
1st person singular	ich eich	-ich	mich meich		meer	mer m'r
2nd person singular (informal)	du dau/Dau	-du, -de -Dau, -De	dich deich/Deich		deer	der d'r/D'r
3rd person singular (m.)	er; där	-er	ihn	en	ihm	em
3rd person singular (f.)	sie; die	-se	sie / ihns	se	eer ehr	re
3rd person singular (n.)	es; das et, 't	's	es et	-et, -'t	ihm	em
1st person plural	meer	mer	uns uhs
2nd person plural	deer Ehr, Dehr	der	eich Auch
3rd person plural	sie; die	-se	sie	se	denne

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Ingrian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *sidek, equivalent to sittoa (“to bind”) +‎ -e. Cognates include Finnish side and Estonian side.

Pronunciation

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈsie/, [ˈs̠ie̞]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈsie/, [ˈʃie̞]
• Rhymes: -ie
• Hyphenation: si‧e

Noun

sie

1. bond; tie
2. bandage

Declension

Declension of sie (type 6/lähe, t- gradation, gemination)
	singular	plural
nominative	sie	sitteet
genitive	sitteen	sittein
partitive	siettä	sitteitä
illative	sitteesse	sitteisse
inessive	sittees	sitteis
elative	sitteest	sitteist
allative	sitteelle	sitteille
adessive	sitteel	sitteil
ablative	sitteelt	sitteilt
translative	sitteeks	sitteiks
essive	sitteennä, sitteen	sitteinnä, sittein
exessive1)	sitteent	sitteint
1) obsolete *) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl) **) the comitative is formed by adding the suffix -ka? or -kä? to the genitive.

References

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 523

Iu Mien

Etymology

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *tsʰje (“hungry”). Cognate with White Hmong tshaib and Western Xiangxi Miao [Fenghuang] xib.

Adjective

sie 

1. hungry

Karelian

Pronoun

sie

1. Superseded spelling of šie.

References

• P. M. Zaykov (1999) Грамматика Карельского языка (фонетика и морфология) [Grammar of the Karelian language (phonetics and morphology)], →ISBN, page 58

Kven

Etymology

From Finnish sinä, from Proto-Finnic *cinä, from Proto-Uralic *tinä.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsie̯/

Pronoun

sie

1. thou, you (singular)

Declension

Declension of sie singular plural nominative sie tet genitive sinun teiđän, teän partitive sinnuu, sinua teitä accusative sinun teiđät, teät illative sinhuun teihin inessive sinussa teissä elative sinusta teistä allative sinule, sinulet, sulle, sullet teile, teilet adessive sinula, sulla teilä ablative sinulta, sulta teiltä translative sinuna teinä essive sinuksi teiksi abessive sinutta teittä

See also

Kven personal pronouns

	first	second	third anim	third anim or inan
singular	mie	sie	hän	se
plural	met	tet	het	net

References

• Eira Söderholm (2017) Kvensk grammatikk, Tromsø: Cappelen Damm Akademisk, →ISBN, page 276

Middle Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siə/, /si/

Pronoun

sie

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

Middle Low German

Pronunciation

• Stem vowel: ê⁴
  • IPA^(key): /siə/, /siɛ/

Pronoun

sie

1. Alternative form of sê.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si͜yː/

Verb

sīe

1. singular present subjunctive of wesan

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

• sia

Pronoun

sie m or f

1. she (accusative)
2. they

Declension

Old Saxon personal pronouns

Personal pronouns
Singular	1.	2.	3. m	3. f	3. n
Nominative	ik	thū	hē	siu	it
Accusative	mī, me, mik	thī, thik	ina	sia
Dative	mī	thī	imu	iru	it
Genitive	mīn	thīn	is	ira	is
Dual	1.	2.	-	-	-
Nominative	wit	git	-	-	-
Accusative	unk	ink	-	-	-
Dative
Genitive	unkero	inker, inka	-	-	-
Plural	1.	2.	3. m	3. f	3. n
Nominative	wī, we	gī, ge	sia	sia	siu
Accusative	ūs, unsik	eu, iu, iuu
Dative	ūs		im
Genitive	ūser	euwar, iuwer, iuwar, iuwero, iuwera	iro

Descendants

• Low German: se

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

Compare German sie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

sie

1. she
2. they

Declension

Declension of sie

	Nominative	Accusative	Dative
1st - Singular	ich	mich	mir mer (unstressed)
2nd - Singular	du de (unstressed)	dich	dir der (unstressed)
3rd - Singular Masculine	er	ihn en (unstressed)	ihm em (unstressed)
3rd - Singular Feminine	sie se (unstressed)	sie se (unstressed)	ihre re (unstressed)
3rd - Singular Neuter	es	es	ihm em (unstressed)
1st - Plural	mir mer (unstressed)	uns	uns
2nd - Plural	dihr der (unstressed)	eich	eich
3rd - Plural	sie	sie	ihne ne (unstressed)
2nd - Polite	Sie	Sie	Ihne Ne (unstressed)

Romanian

Alternative forms

• sieși

Etymology

From Latin sibi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi.e/

Pronoun

sie

1. (rare) (to) himself/herself/itself/themselves (stressed reflexive-dative form of el, ea, ei and ele)

Derived terms

• sieși

Related terms

• își (unstressed form)

Venetian

Etymology

From Latin sex.

Noun

sie

1. six