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I am wondering if there is a rule to know when I have to use the possesive pronoun sein or ihr.

For instance:

Er liebt seine Frau sehr

Er liebt ihre Frau sehr

How does the meaning change by changing the pronoun. About which wife are we talking?

or another example:

Die Mutter holt ihren Sohn vom Kindergarten ab.

The mother takes her son from the kindergarden.

Is it her son or another mother's son?

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Revolucion for Monica
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    "Sein" and "ihr"aren't prepositions, they're pronouns, and possesive pronouns to be specific. – Beta Oct 08 '16 at 14:05
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    Was sagt das Wörterbuch? – user unknown Oct 08 '16 at 21:10
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    Different to French the gender of the pronoun follows the subject, not the object in German. May that be your issue here? – Takkat Oct 09 '16 at 07:28
  • @Takkat Actually the pronoun "follows" both subject and object! The ending is feminine (-e, not -en), because the object of love is the wife, not the husband (as in French "son/sa"), the "beginning" changes with the gender of the subject (sein-/ihr-). So what you probably meant to say was that the third person pronoun differs with the gender of the subject, unlike in French, where there is only one for both genders of subject. –  Oct 09 '16 at 11:42
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    Why does this type of question keep leaving the close vote review queue? – Jan Oct 09 '16 at 19:32
  • @Jan Vielleicht, weil es außer mir noch andere so sehen. – Matthias Oct 09 '16 at 19:54
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    Reopen it because Takkat is right! – äüö Oct 10 '16 at 12:54
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    The example in Marine1's comment is better than the one in the question above: "Die Mutter holt ihren Sohn vom Kindergarten ab. (=The mother takes her son from the kindergarden.)" - Is it her son or another mother's son? – Iris Oct 11 '16 at 11:53

2 Answers2

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Its the same as in English:

  1. The pronoun refers to the sentences subject, which is male:

    Walter hat gerade Maria geheiratet.
    Er (Walter) liebt seine (eigene) Frau sehr.

    Walter just has married Maria.
    He (Walter) loves his (own) wife very much.

    Here the pronoun refers to »er« (»he«) which is the subject of the sentence. Since er/he is male, the pronoun also has to be male.

  2. The pronoun refers to something outside the sentence, which is male:

    Michael ist mit Claudia verheiratet, aber auch Markus liebt Claudia. Markus ist Michaels bester Freund.
    Er (Markus) liebt seine (Michaels) Frau sehr.

    Michael is married to Claudia, but also Markus loves Claudia. Markus is Michaels best friend.
    He (Markus) loves his (Michaels) wife very much.

  3. The pronoun refers to something outside the sentence, which is female:

    Barbara ist mit Claudia verheiratet, sie sind ein lesbisches Paar. Aber auch Markus liebt Claudia. Markus ist Barbaras bester Freund.
    Er (Markus) liebt ihre (Barbaras) Frau sehr.

    Barbara is married to Claudia, they are a lesbian couple. But also Markus loves Claudia. Markus is Barbaras best friend.
    He (Markus) loves her (Barbaras) wife very much.

Hubert Schölnast
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  • Thanks for this answer! Therfore Die Mutter holt ihren Sohn vom Kindergarten ab. is the mother take her children from the Kindergarten, right? And here do ihre would have mean the children of somebody else? – Revolucion for Monica Oct 09 '16 at 15:39
  • My English is not the best, but I think it should be: »*The mother takes her son from the preschool.*« (German »Sohn« is not »children« in English, but »son«. And German »Kindergarten« and Englisch »kindergarten« are false friends!) In this sentense »ihren« can mean exactly the same as »her« in English: Either her own son, or another women's son. It depends on context. – Hubert Schölnast Oct 09 '16 at 16:17
  • Note that in general the choice depends on the grammatical gender of what sein/ihr refers to: Das Mädchen liebt seine Eltern. – Carsten S Oct 14 '16 at 16:49
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"Er liebt seine Frau" basically means: "He loves his wife."

"Er liebt ihre Frau" means: "He loves her wife" maybe "He loves your wife" (This would be more formal, so you should write "Ihre")

So it depends on what you want to say.

HerrVonK
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    I would translate 2nd sentence to "He loves her wife", which is somewhat unlikely requiring a same-sex marriage. But it is still more likely, than the formal addressing in lowercase. – guidot Oct 08 '16 at 16:40
  • Okay the second sentence is not what I was looking for, thanks! Therfore Die Mutter holt ihren Sohn vom Kindergarten ab. is the mother take her children from the Kindergarten, right? And here ihre means the children of somebody else? – Revolucion for Monica Oct 09 '16 at 15:42