sie

See also: Sie, się, šie, Sië, and -sie

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English sien, from Old English sīgan (“to sink, descend”), from Proto-Germanic *sīganą, *sīhwaną (“to strain, drop”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyk- (“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

Verb

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

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

Noun

sie (plural sies)

A drop.

Related terms

sile

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)

(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, 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, 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, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, LCCN 2011012058, 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

water

References

Comparative Chibchan Phonology (1981)

Finnish

Pronunciation

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

Pronoun

sie (stem siu-)

(personal, dialectal) you (singular; in archaic English: thou).

Synonyms

sinä (standard Finnish)
sä (colloquial)
sää (dialectal)

Anagrams

eis, esi-, ies, sei

German

Alternative forms

se, -se (enclitic; colloquial)

Pronunciation

(standard) IPA^(key): /ziː/

audio (file)
Rhymes: -iː

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

Etymology 1

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

Pronoun

sie f

she
Ist sie noch krank?
Is she still sick?
Das ist meine Katze. Sie heißt Lili.
This is my cat. Her name is Lili.
Ich suche Vanessa. Hast du sie gesehen?
I'm looking for Vanessa. Have you seen her?
it (when the object/article/thing/animal etc., referred to, is feminine [die])
Scheint die Sonne noch? Nein, sie ist schon untergegangen.
Is the Sun still shining? No, it has already gone down.
Ich suche meine Brieftasche. Hast du sie gesehen?
I'm looking for my wallet. Have you seen it?
he (when the grammatical gender of the noun being referred to and designating a male person, is feminine [die])
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.
The guardsman Michael Müller damaged his rifle, and his supervisor punished him for that.

Declension

German personal pronouns

	1st person	2nd person familiar¹	3rd person			1st person	2nd person familiar¹	3rd person	2nd person polite/formal
	singular					plural			singular and plural
	1st person	2nd person familiar¹	m	f	n	1st person	2nd person familiar¹	3rd person	2nd person polite/formal
nominative	ich	du -e²	er	sie -se²	es	wir mir³	ihr	sie -se²	Sie Ihr⁴
genitive	meiner mein⁴	deiner dein⁴	seiner sein⁴	ihrer	seiner sein⁴	unser	euer	ihrer	Ihrer Euer⁴
dative	mir	dir	ihm	ihr	ihm	uns	euch	ihnen	Ihnen Euch⁴
accusative	mich	dich	ihn	sie -se²	es	uns	euch	sie -se²	Sie Euch⁴

¹These forms are sometimes capitalized, especially in letters. ²enclitic, colloquial ³dialectal ⁴archaic

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.

Related terms

hatse (hat + -se)

Etymology 2

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

Pronoun

sie pl

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

	1st person	2nd person familiar¹	3rd person			1st person	2nd person familiar¹	3rd person	2nd person polite/formal
	singular					plural			singular and plural
	1st person	2nd person familiar¹	m	f	n	1st person	2nd person familiar¹	3rd person	2nd person polite/formal
nominative	ich	du -e²	er	sie -se²	es	wir mir³	ihr	sie -se²	Sie Ihr⁴
genitive	meiner mein⁴	deiner dein⁴	seiner sein⁴	ihrer	seiner sein⁴	unser	euer	ihrer	Ihrer Euer⁴
dative	mir	dir	ihm	ihr	ihm	uns	euch	ihnen	Ihnen Euch⁴
accusative	mich	dich	ihn	sie -se²	es	uns	euch	sie -se²	Sie Euch⁴

¹These forms are sometimes capitalized, especially in letters. ²enclitic, colloquial ³dialectal ⁴archaic

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

she

Inflection

Hunsrik personal pronouns

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

they

Inflection

Hunsrik personal pronouns

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

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/, [ˈs̠ie̞]

(Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈsie/, [ˈʃie̞]

Rhymes: -ie

Hyphenation: si‧e

Noun

sie

bond; tie
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

hungry

Karelian

Pronoun

sie

Superseded spelling of šie.

References

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

Kven

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsie̯/

Pronoun

sie

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

References

Eira Söderholm (2017) Kvensk grammatikk, Tromsø: Cappelen Damm Akademisk, →ISBN, page 276

Middle Dutch

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /siə/, /si/

Pronoun

sie

Alternative form of si (both feminine singular and all plural)

Middle Low German

Pronunciation

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

Pronoun

sie

Alternative form of sê.

Old English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /si͜yː/

Verb

sīe

singular present subjunctive of wesan

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

sia

Pronoun

sie m or f

she (accusative)
they

Declension

Old Saxon personal pronouns

Personal pronouns
Singular	1.	2.	3. m	3. f	3. n
Nominative	ik	thū	hē	siu	it
Accusative	mī, me, mik	thī, thik	ina	sia	it
Dative	mī	thī	imu	iru	it
Genitive	mīn	thīn	is	ira	is

Dual	1.	2.	-	-	-
Nominative	wit	git	-	-	-
Accusative	unk	ink	-	-	-
Dative	unk	ink	-	-	-
Genitive	unkero	inker, inka	-	-	-

Plural	1.	2.	3. m	3. f	3. n
Nominative	wī, we	gī, ge	sia	sia	siu
Accusative	ūs, unsik	eu, iu, iuu	sia	sia	siu
Dative	ūs	eu, iu, iuu	im
Genitive	ūser	euwar, iuwer, iuwar, iuwero, iuwera	iro

Descendants

Low German: se

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

Compare German sie.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

sie

she
they

Declension

Declension of sie

	Nominative	Accusative	Dative
1st - Singular	ich	mich	mir mer (unstressed)
2nd - Singular	du de (unstressed)	dich	dir der (unstressed)
3rd - Singular Masculine	er	ihn en (unstressed)	ihm em (unstressed)
3rd - Singular Feminine	sie se (unstressed)	sie se (unstressed)	ihre re (unstressed)
3rd - Singular Neuter	es	es	ihm em (unstressed)
1st - Plural	mir mer (unstressed)	uns	uns
2nd - Plural	dihr der (unstressed)	eich	eich
3rd - Plural	sie	sie	ihne ne (unstressed)
2nd - Polite	Sie	Sie	Ihne Ne (unstressed)

Romanian

Alternative forms

sieși

Etymology

From Latin sibi.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsi.e/

Pronoun

sie

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

Derived terms

sieși

Related terms

își (unstressed form)

Venetian

Etymology

From Latin sex.

Noun

sie

six

sie

English

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Verb

Noun

Related terms

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Alternative forms

Synonyms

Anagrams

Chibcha

Noun

References

Finnish

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Synonyms

Anagrams

German

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Pronoun

Declension

Related terms

Etymology 2

Pronoun

Usage notes

Declension

Further reading

Anagrams

Hunsrik

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Inflection

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Inflection

Further reading

Ingrian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

References

Iu Mien

Etymology

Adjective

Karelian

Pronoun

References

Kven

Etymology

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Declension

See also

References

Middle Dutch

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Middle Low German

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Old English

Pronunciation

Verb

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

Pronoun

Declension

Descendants

Pennsylvania German

Etymology