German - English Dictionary
/ziː/
Sie is a German pronoun with multiple uses: it can mean you (formal), she, it, they, or them depending on context and what it refers to.
| # | Type | German | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pronoun | sie object pronoun: the person being addressed | you |
| 2 | pronoun | sie subject pronoun: the person being addressed | you |
| 3 | pronoun | sie object pronoun: the group being addressed | you |
| 4 | pronoun | sie subject — inanimate thing | it |
| 5 | pronoun | sie third-person plural pronoun | they |
| 6 | pronoun | sie person | she |
| 7 | pronoun | sie third personal plural pronoun used after a preposition or as the object of a verb | them |
| 8 | pronoun | sie she | her |
| 9 | pronoun | sie ship | she |
| 10 | pronoun | sie country, planet, machine, season etc. | she |
| 11 | pronoun | sie | she; her |
| 12 | pronoun | sie | it (with grammatically feminine subjects, i.e. those for which the article die – pronounced dee – is used) |
| 13 | pronoun | sie | he (when a grammatically feminine word is used to refer to a person, regardless of their sex) formal |
| 14 | pronoun | sie | they; them |
| 15 | pronoun | sie | you (polite, singular and plural) |
Guten Tag, wie heißen Sie?
Good day, what is your name?
Sie ist meine Schwester.
She is my sister.
Ich sehe sie jeden Tag.
I see them every day.
Sie with a capital S means you (formal, polite) in both singular and plural. When lowercase sie, it means she, it, they, or them depending on the noun it replaces. German learners often confuse sie (she/they) with Sie (you formal); context and capitalization are key.
Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Audio: Wikimedia Commons