In this example, I don’t feel there’s a difference between “er” and “der”, but if we make it a conevrsation then der gets a slight edge, for me anyway. I think most people would read this as “about Thomas” because the topic is more important for the verb “berichten” than the person doing it. And the only difference really is that the version with sie sounds less pointy and a bit more personal. For practice on the go, download the Deutschwunder app and master German articles, pronouns, and grammar anywhere.
It sounds weird to refer to the bartender as pretty, as only feminine things can be pretty, while guys are handsome. The verb phrase is “berichten von”, so a native speaker would not be confused about the topic vs subject based on context, unless it’s REALLY vague. In fact, even some people from Cologne did it and it’s super odd to me because in Berlin we don’t do it. It always feel a bit strange to me (I’m English) to use er/sie to refer to objects not people, but much less so to use der/die.
Ob der da ist oder nicht ist mir total egal. But using ‘der’ or ‘die’ can sound a bit distant or dismissive compared to ‘er’ or ‘sie’. ‘der’ and ‘die’ are more pointy and work nicely in sentence-initial spots.

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This explanation really clarifies the nuances between these German pronouns and articles. Listen to natives and copy sentence starts where ‘der’, ‘die’, ‘das’ appear. Avoid starting a sentence with ‘es’ when it refers to a specific thing. Whether that guy is there or not I really don’t care.

Why Do Germans Say “sie” for So Many Things?

Not learning nouns with articles. If the noun’s article is der or das, the dative pronoun is ihm. Mixing up ihm and ihr in dative.
Den kenne ich nicht, aber der, der mit Maria redet, das ist Thomas. To say also something related to the topic, for me the pointy der, die, das translate as that one. I’m pretty sure German too must have some word for handsome, that only applies to males, but I can’t remember how it goes. I re-read the 1st sentence and the 2nd. I was doing my normal reading and listening and all of a sudden there was this person – an “er” – in the next sentence. Just make sure you don’t worry too much about it when trying to speak.

• Ihr is dative for feminine nouns only.
• ‘es’ is too bland for referring to a specific thing at the start of a sentence.
• In written, the das has to go or there needs to be a – or something because you’re kind of restarting your sentence.
• The difference to das and es is that er and sie (and their case versions) are not quite as bland as es.
• Try both versions aloud and notice which one sounds pointy and which sounds neutral.
• This topic and your prefix dictionary are exactly where I am in my journey into this heart of darkness.
• It’s NOT about the difference between der, die and das.

In writing this is clear; in speech, context does the work. Casesie (they)Sie (you formal)NominativesieSieAccusativesieSieDativeihnenIhnen Only capitalization and context distinguish them.

Your Comments and Questions

• While it either directly stands for a noun (implied like “weird behavior” or explicit like “the book” ).
• And er, sie, es are pronouns, so they stand in for persons and things in our sentence.
• It’s the “topic”, a prepositional object.
• In Austria (and perhaps southern Germany), when referring to another person who is familiar, it’s usual to use the definite article with their name.
• Der Computer funktioniert nicht.
• This is one of those examples where a learner would ask if they can also use er.
• Here, “sie” would sound weird, and “die” doesn’t sound negative or distanced.

In written, the das has to go or there needs to be a – or something because you’re kind of restarting your sentence. You’re established a new guy, so you couldn’t refer to the new guy with “he”. With the question, you do need the pointy version, and same for “den, der mit Maria redet” because this “den” is actually not an entity yet. This is pretty natural and a German would certainly use it. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, but it’s not part of the standard vernacular. According to them, it’s rare in Berlin.

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400+ quizzes, games, aphrodite casino and AI pronunciation practice — all in one app. Conjugations can seem confusing, but just listen to the lesson and answer the question and you’ll get them. Repeat this lesson until you can easily answer the questions. If you have a noun with a masculine article (der) then the article and the noun can be replaced with er. Hidden-language examples are blurred — click a blurred example to reveal it. Looking forward to the practice session.
Der, die, das have an element of pointing, while er, sie, es are super neutral. It’s not really wrong, but it does sound a bit odd and I don’t think a German would use it. This is one of those examples where a learner would ask if they can also use er. Because today, we’ll explore the question Today, we’ll actually look at the difference between two groups. And welcome to a new episode of What is the Difference, the series where we look at two German words that seem to mean the same but don’t mean the same.