Words like the following are called pronouns.
ich, er, diese, man, welches, einer, meine, jemand, keiner, sich
Pronouns substitute a noun or a noun phrase in order to avoid unnecessary repetitions.
| Examples | |
| Meine Schwester hat meinem besten Freund Thomas das alte Fahrrad geliehen. | |
| Er bringt es ihr morgen zurück. |
use of a pronoun |
| Mein bester Freund Thomas bringt meiner Schwester das alte Fahrrad morgen zurück. | repetition of the noun phrase |
Certain pronouns, like, for example, the possessive pronouns, can also be used as articles.
| Examples | |
| Dieses Auto ist meins. | used as a pronoun |
| Dieses Auto ist mein Auto. | used as an article |
Pronouns are classified, according to their function and meaning, in various categories.
| pronoun categories |
| personal pronouns |
| reflexive pronouns |
| reciprocal pronouns |
| possessive pronouns |
| demonstrative pronouns |
| interrogative pronouns |
| relative pronouns |
| indefinite pronouns |
| pronominal adverbs |
Pronouns are inflected. There are, however, certain pronouns like man, etwas, nichts, selbst that are invariable.