ich
I
First-person singular personal pronoun in the nominative. It refers to the person who is speaking.
EXAMPLE
Ich lerne gerade Deutsch.
I am learning German right now.
ich
I
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Meanings
Usage tips
Common mistake
In German, 'ich' (I) is capitalized only at the beginning of a sentence. Unlike in English, it is always written in lowercase in the middle of a sentence.
EXAMPLE
Ich komme aus Spanien.
I come from Spain.
Sentence structure with 'ich'
'Ich' (I) is the subject form, or nominative, and performs the action of the verb. It either comes first in the sentence or directly after the conjugated verb when another element is in first position.
EXAMPLE
Ich lese ein Buch.
I am reading a book.
Other personal forms
When the speaking person is the object of an action, you use the forms 'mich' (me, accusative) or 'mir' (me/to me, dative), not 'ich' (I).
EXAMPLE
Er hat mich gefragt.
He asked me.
Compare with
ich vs wir
we
A single author can refer to themselves with ich or wir. Ich sounds personal and directly identifies the speaker. Wir is possible as an authorial plural, especially in academic texts, and creates more distance even though only one person is writing.
ich
In diesem Artikel untersuche ich die Folgen des Klimawandels.
In this article, I examine the consequences of climate change.
wir
In diesem wissenschaftlichen Artikel untersuchen wir die Folgen des Klimawandels.
In this academic article, we examine the consequences of climate change.
In real life
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