German word

ich

Pronunciation

IPA/ɪç/

Meaning

  • pronounI

Example

Kann ich helfen?

Can I help?

Illustration for ich (I)

More examples

ich verstehe nicht.

I don't understand.

Core concept

The speaking person at the center of a sentence, marking the speaker as the source of an action, thought, or feeling.

Common phrases

  • ich heiße

    my name is

  • ich komme aus

    I come from

  • ich verstehe nicht

    I don't understand

Similar words

du: A second-person singular subject pronoun for the person being addressed.
er: A third-person singular subject pronoun for a male person or male role.
sie: A third-person singular subject pronoun for a female person or female role.
wir: A first-person plural subject pronoun including the speaker.

Definition in German

Ich bezeichnet die Person, die gerade spricht; es ist das Personalpronomen der 1. Person Singular im Nominativ.

Word origin

German ich developed from Old High German ih and traces back to Proto-Germanic *ik or *ek, sharing an ancestry with English I and Dutch ik.

Usage tips

  • Unlike English I, German ich is normally lowercase unless it begins a sentence, because it is not capitalized as a special pronoun.

Word lists with this word