Unpersönlicher

Unpersönlicher is an adjective in German that describes lack of personal reference or influence in discourse, sentences, or stylistic tone. It is used to refer to things that do not attribute actions or attributes to a specific person. The term is commonly applied in grammar and style to characterize impersonal constructions, impersonal tone, or objective language.

In grammar, unpersönlich refers to sentences where the subject does not point to a definite person. Frequently, a dummy subject such as es is used, or the action is presented without a clear agent. Examples include weather statements like Es regnet or Es ist kalt, where no personal actor is involved. The concept also covers stylistic choices that minimize personal perspective, such as avoiding first-person pronouns (ich, wir) and using passive or nominal formulations to increase distance and objectivity.

The word forms a comparative with unpersönlich: unpersönlicher and the superlative am unpersönlichsten. This allows speakers to describe degrees of impersonality, for example: Ein unpersönlicher Stil (a more impersonal style) or Der Text wirkt unpersönlicher als der vorherige (the text appears more impersonal than the previous one). In practice, unpersönlicher Stil is common in scientific, administrative, and journalistic writing where objectivity and neutrality are valued.

See also: impersonal sentence, unpersönliches Passiv, unpersönliche Formulierungen, objektiver Stil.