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Impersonal verbs and the

German pronoun "es"

1. The personal pronoun "es"

Impersonal verbs in German use as subject

the pronoun "es".

The pronoun "es" usually means "it" but it

has no meaning in the context of impersonal
verbs but rather just a grammatical function
of a subject.

2. Verbs that deal with the weather

Verbs that deal with nature are impersonal
verbs:

Es dunkelt schon
It's getting dark

Heute kann es regnen

It might rain today

Gestern hat es geschneit

It snowed yesterday
 Verb Meaning

blitzen to flash (lightning)

dämmern to dawn

donnern to thunder

dunkeln to get dark

frieren to freeze

gewittern to storm

hageln to hail

nieseln to drizzle

gießen to flood/downpour

regnen to rain

schneien to snow

tauen to melt

3. Impersonal verbs dealing with

noise
As you see in the following examples, verbs
dealing with noise can be impersonal:

Wo hat es geknallt?
Where was the bang?
 Was tun, wenn es im Ohr pfeift?
What to do if there is a whistling (noise) in
your ear?

Verb Meaning

klingeln to ring

knallen to make a bang/explode

läuten to sound the bells

pfeifen to whistle

rauschen to whisper

These verbs don't necessarily have to always

be impersonal if you specify the origin of the
noise (that's why it doesn't have the pronoun
"es")

Nachts pfeift der Wind ums Haus

At night, the wind whistles around the
house

4. Impersonal verbs that deal with

the senses
Many verbs that deal with the senses in
German are impersonal:

Es tut mir leid

I'm sorry
 Es hat mir geschmeckt
I liked the food/ It tasted very well

5. "Sein", "werden" and "bleiben" as

impersonal verbs
Copulative verbs, meaning "sein", "werden"
and "bleiben", can behave like impersonal
verbs if they are accompanied by adjective
or adverbs that:

Are meteorological events

Gestern war es sonnig

It was sunny yesterday

Are natural phenomena

Es ist zu heiß
It's too hot

Deal with time

Wie spät ist es?

What time is it?

6. Geben as an Impersonal Verb

It is very common to find the verb "geben"
acting as an impersonal verb:

Be careful with "geben" which means to give

but also behaves like an impersonal verb
meaning "there is/are"

Es gibt keine Lösung

There is no solution

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