sie

See also: Appendix:Variations of "sie"

Languages (22)

Translingual • English

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Chibcha • Finnish • German • Hunsrik • Ingrian • Iu Mien • Karelian • Kven • Meänkieli • Middle Dutch • Middle High German • Middle Low German • Old English • Old Saxon • Pennsylvania German • Plautdietsch • Polish • Romanian • Silesian • Venetan

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Page categories

Translingual

Symbol

sie

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Simaa.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Simaa terms

English

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *seykʷ-der.

Proto-Germanic *sīhwaną

Proto-Germanic *sīganą

Proto-West Germanic *sīgan

Old English sīgan

Middle English sien

English sie

From Middle English sien, from Old English sīgan (“to sink, descend”), from Proto-Germanic *sīganą, *sīhwaną (“to strain, drop”), from Proto-Indo-European *seykʷ- (“to pour, strain”). Cognate with Dutch zijgen (“to filter”), German seihen (“to strain, sieve”), Icelandic síga (“to lower”).

Alternative forms

• sigh
• sey, sye (Scotland)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /saɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: sigh, sai, psi, xi, scye, Si, Sy, Cy

Verb

sie (third-person singular simple present sies, present participle sying, simple past and past participle sied)

1. (intransitive) To sink; fall; drop.
2. (intransitive) To fall, as in a swoon; faint.
3. (intransitive, dialectal) To drop, as water; trickle.
4. (transitive) To sift.
5. (transitive, dialectal) To strain, as milk; filter.

Noun

sie (plural sies)

1. A drop.

Related terms

• sile

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/
• Homophones: c, cee, sea, see

Pronoun

sie (third person singular, gender-neutral, nominative case, accusative sir, possessive adjective hir, possessive noun hirs, reflexive hirself)

1. (rare, nonstandard) Gender-neutral subject pronoun, grammatically equivalent to the gendered pronouns he and she
   • 1993 September 24, Alex Martelli, “punishment vs ethics (was Re: Discipline my daughters)”, in alt.sex.bondage (Usenet):

     If the child is about the intellectual equal of the parent, sie will eventually start holding hir own in discussions, […]

   • 2010 September 16, Jessica Freely, Amaranth and Ash‎^[1], La Vergne: Lightning Source, →ISBN, page 101:

     "You must be Ash," sie said, hir voice a shade deeper than Amaranth's.

   • 2011 May 19, Ken Wickham, The Other Genders: Androgyne, Genderqueer, Non-Binary Gender Variant‎^[2], CreateSpace, →ISBN, page 7:

     Sie may feel that hir actual identity of hir gender is supposed to be both/neither male or female, outside of gender, third gender, beyond gender, absence of gender, mixing gender, changing gender, or all genders.

   • 2011 August 16, Petra Kuppers, Disability Culture and Community Performance: Find a Strange and Twisted Shape‎^[3], New York: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, →LCCN, LCC PN1590.H36 K87 2011, page 18:

     When I asked hir about hir preferred self-identification in this scene, sie offered me this language, 'sie sharply performs the hotness of teasing all the audience from the edge-space of androgyny.'

Alternative forms

• shi

Synonyms

• see Appendix:English third-person singular pronouns

Anagrams

• -ies, -ise, EIS, EIs, ESI, I'se, ISE, ies, sei

Chibcha

Noun

sie

1. water

References

• Comparative Chibchan Phonology (1981)

Finnish

Etymology

Dialectal variant of sinä (through siä); see it and its etymon, Proto-Finnic *cinä, for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsie̯/, [ˈs̠ie̞̯]
• Rhymes: -ie
• Syllabification^(key): sie
• Hyphenation^(key): sie

Pronoun

sie (stem siu-) (dialectal)

1. (personal) you (second-person singular personal pronoun)

Usage notes

• The siu- stem is used in eastern Finland, not in Lapland.

Synonyms

• sinä (standard Finnish; see it for full list)

Anagrams

• eis, esi-, ies, sei

German

Alternative forms

• se, -se (enclitic; colloquial)

Pronunciation

• (standard) IPA^(key): /ziː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

• (colloquially in unstressed position) IPA^(key): /zə/

Etymology 1

From Middle High German siu, si, from Old High German siu, si, from Proto-West Germanic *si(j)u, *sī, from Proto-Germanic *sī (see Proto-Germanic *iz). Cognate with Gothic 𐍃𐌹 (si) and Old English sēo f (“that one”).

Pronoun

sie f

1. she; her

   Ist sie noch krank?

   (file)

   Is she still sick?

   Das ist meine Katze. Sie heißt Lili.

   (file)

   This is my cat. She's called Lili.

   Ich suche Vanessa. Hast du sie gesehen?

   (file)

   I am looking for Vanessa. Have you seen her?

2. it (with grammatically feminine antecedents, i.e. those for which the article die is used)

   Scheint die Sonne noch? Nein, sie ist schon untergegangen.

   (file)

   Is the sun still shining? No, it (literally “she”) has already gone down.

   Ich suche meine Brieftasche. Hast du sie gesehen?

   (file)

   I'm looking for my wallet; have you seen it (literally “her”)?

3. (formal, pedantic or strictly) he (when a grammatically feminine word is used to refer to a person, regardless of their sex)

   Die Geisel Richard Meier versuchte, sich zu befreien, aber sie schaffte es nicht.

   The hostage, Richard Meier, tried to break free, but he didn’t succeed.

   Die Wache Michael Müller beschädigte ihr Gewehr, wofür ihr Vorgesetzter sie bestrafte.

   Michael Müller the watchman damaged his rifle, wherefor his overseer punished him.

Usage notes

• Words such as Geisel (“hostage”) and Wache (“guard, guardsman, watcher, watchman”) are feminine nouns, which in German simply means that they require a different set of words to be used with them (namely specific articles and pronouns, such as die and sie), while in other languages they might also require their ending to be changed (to -a or -e, for example).
• Grammatical gender therefore means mostly abstract word-categorization, although it may also often reflect, where applicable, the natural gender of a subject (hence the names "masculine" and "feminine").
• Normative grammar in gendered languages prescribes that pronouns be used which agree to the grammatical gender of the word, not to the sex or gender of the living being (such as a cat or a male hostage/watchman) to which it refers; though colloquial usage often leans towards natural-gender agreement for the most part.

Declension

German personal pronouns

	singular					plural			sing. and pl.
	1st person	2nd person familiar1	3rd person			1st person	2nd person familiar1	3rd person	2nd person polite/formal
			m	f	n
nominative	ich	du -e2	er	sie -se2	es	wir	ihr	sie -se2	Sie Ihr3
genitive	meiner mein3	deiner dein3	seiner sein3	ihrer	seiner sein3	unser	euer	ihrer	Ihrer Euer3
dative	mir	dir	ihm	ihr	ihm	uns	euch	ihnen	Ihnen Euch3
accusative	mich	dich	ihn	sie -se2	es	uns	euch	sie -se2	Sie Euch3

¹These forms are sometimes capitalized, especially in letters.    ²enclitic, colloquial    ³archaic

• The genitive case ihrer is more and more rarely used in modern German.
• While the genitive of personal pronouns does express ownership, it must not be confused with possessive pronouns. While possessive pronouns such as ihr are put in front of the noun they relate to and follow the inflection rules of adjectives, the genitive form of personal pronouns has only one form, which is not further inflected. Additionally, personal pronouns in the genitive can be put after the word they relate to.

Etymology 2

From Middle High German sie, si (neuter siu), from Old High German sie (masculine plural), sio (feminine plural), siu (neuter plural).

Pronoun

sie pl

1. they; them

Usage notes

• In the colloquial speech of some areas, this pronoun is used only enclitically after a verb, as an ending /zə/. E.g. hamse, könnse. Stressed instances are replaced with the demonstrative pronoun die. This reflects a similar development for es/das.
• While the genitive of personal pronouns does express ownership, it must not be confused with possessive pronouns. While possessive pronouns such as ihr are put in front of the noun they relate to and follow the inflection rules of adjectives, the genitive form of a personal pronoun has only one form, which is not further inflected. Additionally, personal pronouns in the genitive can be put after the word they relate to.

Declension

German personal pronouns

	singular					plural			sing. and pl.
	1st person	2nd person familiar1	3rd person			1st person	2nd person familiar1	3rd person	2nd person polite/formal
			m	f	n
nominative	ich	du -e2	er	sie -se2	es	wir	ihr	sie -se2	Sie Ihr3
genitive	meiner mein3	deiner dein3	seiner sein3	ihrer	seiner sein3	unser	euer	ihrer	Ihrer Euer3
dative	mir	dir	ihm	ihr	ihm	uns	euch	ihnen	Ihnen Euch3
accusative	mich	dich	ihn	sie -se2	es	uns	euch	sie -se2	Sie Euch3

¹These forms are sometimes capitalized, especially in letters.    ²enclitic, colloquial    ³archaic

Etymology 3

Pronoun

sie

1. misspelling of Sie

Further reading

• “sie” in Duden online
• “sie”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[4] (in German)

Anagrams

• sei
• Eis

Hunsrik

Alternative forms

• sii (Wiesemann spelling system)

Etymology 1

From Old High German siu; cognate with Gothic 𐍃𐌹 (si) and Old English sēo (“that one (f.)”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

sie

1. she

Inflection

Hunsrik personal pronouns

			nominative		accusative		dative
			proclitic	enclitic	stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed
singular	1st person		ich eich	-ich	mich meich		meer	mer m'r
	2nd person (informal)		du dau/Dau	-du, -de -Dau, -De	dich deich/Deich		deer	der d'r/D'r
	3rd person	m	er; där	-er	ihn	en	ihm	em
		f	sie; die	-se	sie / ihns	se	eer ehr	re
		n	es; das et, 't	's	es et	-et, -'t	ihm	em
plural	1st person		meer	mer	uns uhs
	2nd person		deer Ehr, Dehr	der	eich Auch
	3rd person		sie; die	-se	sie	se	denne

Etymology 2

From Old High German sie (masculine plural), sio (feminine plural), siu (neuter plural).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

sie

1. they

Inflection

Hunsrik personal pronouns

			nominative		accusative		dative
			proclitic	enclitic	stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed
singular	1st person		ich eich	-ich	mich meich		meer	mer m'r
	2nd person (informal)		du dau/Dau	-du, -de -Dau, -De	dich deich/Deich		deer	der d'r/D'r
	3rd person	m	er; där	-er	ihn	en	ihm	em
		f	sie; die	-se	sie / ihns	se	eer ehr	re
		n	es; das et, 't	's	es et	-et, -'t	ihm	em
plural	1st person		meer	mer	uns uhs
	2nd person		deer Ehr, Dehr	der	eich Auch
	3rd person		sie; die	-se	sie	se	denne

Further reading

• Boll, Piter Kehoma (2021), “sie”, in Dicionário Hunsriqueano Riograndense–Português, 3rd edition (overall work in Portuguese), Ivoti: Riograndenser Hunsrickisch

Ingrian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *sidek, equivalent to sittoa (“to bind”) +‎ -e. Cognates include Finnish side and Estonian side.

Pronunciation

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈsie/, [ˈs̠ie̞ˑ]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈsie/, [ˈʃie̞ˑ]
• Rhymes: -ie
• Hyphenation: si‧e

Noun

sie

1. bond; tie
2. bandage

Declension

Declension of sie (type 6/lähe, t- gradation, gemination)
	singular	plural
nominative	sie	sitteet
genitive	sitteen	sittein
partitive	siettä	sitteitä
illative	sitteesse	sitteisse
inessive	sittees	sitteis
elative	sitteest	sitteist
allative	sitteelle	sitteille
adessive	sitteel	sitteil
ablative	sitteelt	sitteilt
translative	sitteeks	sitteiks
essive	sitteennä, sitteen	sitteinnä, sittein
exessive1)	sitteent	sitteint
1) obsolete *) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl) **) the comitative is formed by adding the suffix -ka? or -kä? to the genitive.

References

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971), Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 523

Iu Mien

Etymology

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *tsʰje (“hungry”). Cognate with White Hmong tshaib and Western Xiangxi Miao [Fenghuang] xib.

Adjective

sie 

1. hungry

Karelian

Pronoun

sie

1. superseded spelling of šie

References

• P. M. Zaykov (1999), Грамматика Карельского языка (фонетика и морфология) [Grammar of the Karelian language (phonetics and morphology)] (in Russian), →ISBN, page 58

Kven

Etymology

From Finnish sinä, from Proto-Finnic *cinä, from Proto-Uralic *tinä.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsie̯/

Pronoun

sie

1. thou, you (singular)

Declension

Declension of sie singular plural nominative sie tet genitive sinun teiđän, teän partitive sinnuu, sinua teitä accusative sinun teiđät, teät illative sinhuun teihin inessive sinussa teissä elative sinusta teistä allative sinule, sinulet, sulle, sullet teile, teilet adessive sinula, sulla teilä ablative sinulta, sulta teiltä translative sinuna teinä essive sinuksi teiksi abessive sinutta teittä

See also

Kven personal pronouns

	first	second	third anim	third anim or inan
singular	mie	sie	hän	se
plural	met	tet	het	net

References

• Eira Söderholm (2017), Kvensk grammatikk‎^[5], Tromsø: Cappelen Damm Akademisk, →ISBN, page 276

Meänkieli

Etymology

Inherited from Finnish sinä.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sie/

Pronoun

sie (plural tet)

1. you (second-person singular personal pronoun)

Inflection

Inflection of sie

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sie	tet
Accusative	sinut, sinun	teät, teän
Genitive	sinun	teän
Partitive	sinua	teitä
Inessive	sinussa	teissä
Elative	sinusta	teistä
Illative	sinhuun	teihin
Adessive	sulla	teilä
Ablative	sulta	teiltä
Allative	sulle	teile
Essive	sinuna	teinä
Translative	sinuksi	teiksi

See also

Meänkieli personal pronouns

	first	second	third
singular	mie	sie	hään, se
plural	met	tet	het, net

Middle Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siə/, /si/

Pronoun

sie

1. alternative form of si (both feminine singular and all plural)

Middle High German

Etymology 1

Old High German sie (masculine plural), sio (feminine plural).

Alternative forms

• sî, si

Pronoun

sie m pl or f pl

1. nominative/accusative masculine plural of ër
2. nominative/accusative feminine plural of siu

Inflection

Middle High German personal pronouns

			nominative	genitive	dative	accusative
singular	first person		ich	mīn	mir	mich
	second person		du, dū	dīn	dir	dich
	third person	m	ër CG hë(r)	sīn	im(e)	in
		f	siu	ir(e)	ir(e)	sie
		n	ëȥ CG iȥ, it	es	im(e)	ëȥ CG iȥ, it
plural	first person		wir	unser	uns	uns, unsich
	second person		ir	iuwer	iu, iuch	iuch
	third person	m	sie	ir(e)	in	sie
		f
		n	siu			siu

The distinction of the forms siu and sie as shown above is typical of earlier Upper German texts, but was never general. The forms sī and si existed additionally and all four were increasingly used without differentiation.

Descendants

• German: sie

Etymology 2

Pronoun

sie

1. accusative feminine of siu

Middle Low German

Pronunciation

• Stem vowel: ê⁴
  • IPA^(key): /siə/, /siɛ/

Pronoun

sie

1. alternative form of sê

Old English

Alternative forms

• sȳ, sīæ, sī, sīo, sēo, sīġ, sȳġ
• see — Northumbrian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si͜yː/, /ˈsiː.e/
• Rhymes: -i͜yː
• Rhymes: -iː.e

Verb

sīe

1. singular present subjunctive of wesan (“to be”);
   • c. 1122–1124 (Textus Roffensis) [c. 694 CE], “The Laws of Ine”, in F[rederick] L[evi] Attenborough, M.A., ed. and transl., The Laws of the Earliest English Kings, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1922, page 48:

     Ġif hē ealdormon sie, ðolie his sċire, būton him kyning arian wille

     If he be an alderman, he shall lose his shire, unless the King wish to forgive him.

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

• sia

Pronoun

sie m or f

1. she (accusative)
2. they

Declension

Old Saxon personal pronouns

			nominative	accusative	dative	genitive
singular	1st person		ik	mī, me, mik	mī	mīn
	2nd person		thū	thī, thik	thī	thīn
	3rd person	m	hē	ina	imu	is
		f	siu	sia	iru	ira
		n	it		it	is
dual	1st person		wit	unk		unkero, unka
	2nd person		git	ink		inker, inka
plural	1st person		wī, we	ūs, unsik	ūs	ūser
	2nd person		gī, ge	eu, iu, iuu		euwar, iuwer, iuwar, iuwero, iuwera
	3rd person	m	sia		im	iro
		f	sia
		n	siu

Descendants

• Low German: se

Pennsylvania German

Etymology 1

Compare German sie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

sie f

1. she, her

Declension

Pennsylvania German personal pronouns

Number	singular						plural
Person/ Gender	1st	2nd person		3rd person			1st	2nd	3rd
		familiar	polite/formal	m	f	n
nominative	ich	du de1	dihr der1 Sie	er	sie se1	es	mir mer1	dihr der1	sie
dative	mir mer1	dir der1	eich Ihne Ne1	ihm em1	ihre re1	ihm em1	uns	eich	ihne ne1
accusative	mich	dich	eich Sie	ihn en1	sie se1	es			sie

¹ unstressed

Etymology 2

Compare German sie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

sie

1. they, them

Declension

Pennsylvania German personal pronouns

Number	singular						plural
Person/ Gender	1st	2nd person		3rd person			1st	2nd	3rd
		familiar	polite/formal	m	f	n
nominative	ich	du de1	dihr der1 Sie	er	sie se1	es	mir mer1	dihr der1	sie
dative	mir mer1	dir der1	eich Ihne Ne1	ihm em1	ihre re1	ihm em1	uns	eich	ihne ne1
accusative	mich	dich	eich Sie	ihn en1	sie se1	es			sie

¹ unstressed

Plautdietsch

Verb

sie

1. first-person singular present of sennen

Polish

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

sie m inan

1. abbreviation of sierpień or sierpnia (“August”)

   Coordinate terms: sty, lut, mar, kwi, maj, cze, lip, wrz, paź, lis, gru

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɕɛ/
• Rhymes: -ɛ
• Syllabification: sie

Pronoun

sie

1. nominative/vocative plural of sio

Romanian

Alternative forms

• sieși

Etymology

Inherited from Latin sibi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi.e/

Pronoun

sie

1. (rare) (to) himself/herself/itself/themselves (stressed reflexive-dative form of el, ea, ei and ele)

Derived terms

• sieși

Related terms

• își (unstressed form)

Silesian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *swé

Proto-Balto-Slavic *sen

Proto-Slavic *sę

Old Polish się

Silesian sie

Inherited from Old Polish się.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɕɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛ
• Syllabification: sie

Pronoun

sie

1. reflexive pronoun; oneself, self
2. each other, one another

Declension

Declension of sie

	singular/plural
nominative	—
genitive	sie
dative	sobie
accusative	sie
instrumental	sobōm
locative	sobie

Alternative forms

• siebie

Particle

sie

1. creates the passive voice
2. creates the impersonal voice
3. expresses that the action is done without restriction, freely

Further reading

• sie in dykcjonorz.eu
• sie in silling.org

Venetan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin sex. Compare Italian sei.

Noun

sie

1. six