ihrem

Ihrem is a German inflected form of the possessive determiner ihr-, meaning “her” or “their.” It specifically marks the dative case for masculine or neuter singular nouns. It is not used for feminine nouns or plural nouns, where the corresponding dative forms are ihrer (feminine) and ihren (plural).

Declension and usage

- In the dative singular, masculine and neuter nouns take ihrem. Examples: ich helfe dem Mann? No, ich helfe seinem Mann would be masculine; ich helfe seinem Bruder would also use seinem, while ih­rem Bruder is the dative for ihr- as “her” or “their” before Bruder (masculine). For neuter: ich schenke dem Kind; ich schenke ihrem Kind (neuter) means “to her child” or “to their child.”

- Feminine nouns in the dative use ihrer. Plural nouns in the dative use ihren.

- The word gains different meanings depending on context: as a possessive determiner, it corresponds to “her” or “their” before a noun; as part of a polite address, the capitalized form Ihr- behaves like the formal second-person possessive.

Examples

- Sie hilft ihrem Bruder. “She helps her brother.”

- Sie gab ihrem Kind das Spielzeug. “She gave her child the toy.”

- In formal address: Ich helfe Ihrem Hund. “I help your dog” (polite form).

Notes

- The distinction between lowercase ih­rem and capitalized Ihrem is important: lowercase indicates third-person possessive (“her/their”); capitalized indicates the formal second-person possessive in polite address.

- The form ih­rem is not used with feminine or plural nouns in the same way; those genders and numbers require anderen forms (ihrer, ihren).

---