er ist
The English phrase "he is" is translated into German as er ist.
er ist is the standard way to say "he is" in German when describing a male person or thing using the third-person singular present tense of the verb to be.
Did you know?
- If you are describing a 'girl' (das Mädchen), you must use the neuter pronoun es instead of the masculine er, despite the person being female.
- If a German speaker is talking about a table (der Tisch), they will use er ist to describe it because the noun is masculine.
- While 'er' is the standard subject, the related pronoun ihn uses an unusual 'ih-' spelling that was specifically introduced in Early Modern German to prevent confusion with the word im.
Examples in context
- Er ist ein DJ.He is a DJ.This sentence shows how to use er ist to describe a profession.Tatoeba #1313728 by al_ex_an_der, translation #288669 by CK
- Er ist Li Ying.He is Li Ying.This sentence shows how to use er ist to identify a person.Tatoeba #714628 by Esperantostern, translation #380193 by kellenparker
- Wie alt er ist!How old he is!This sentence shows how to use er ist in an exclamation about age.Tatoeba #1037330 by Sudajaengi, translation #292313 by prajdzisvet
- Er ist ein netter Mann.He is a nice man.
- Wo befindet er sich?Where is he located?
- Er macht Musik.He is making music.
- 1761 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Laura and Maximilian are looking at a photo of a person.
- LauraWer ist das?Who is that?
- MaximilianEr ist mein Bruder.He is my brother.
- LauraEr ist sehr nett.He is very nice.
- MaximilianJa, das stimmt.Yes, that is true.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries er, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
