Pronoun 'es' (it, nominative)

es means "it" - the neuter, third-person singular subject pronoun. It replaces any neuter noun (a das-word):

• Das Kind spielt. Es ist glücklich. - The child is playing. It is happy.
• Das Buch? Es ist interessant. - The book? It is interesting.

Beyond replacing nouns, es has special impersonal uses where it has no real meaning but is grammatically required as the subject:

• Weather: Es regnet. - It is raining. Es ist kalt. - It is cold.
• Time: Es ist drei Uhr. - It is three o'clock.
• Fixed expressions: Es gibt einen Park. - There is a park.

After es, the verb takes the -t ending, just like er and sie: es kommt, es ist.

Common mistakes:

• Note that das Kind (child) and das Mädchen (girl) are neuter, so the pronoun is es even for a person - Das Mädchen lacht; es ist froh.
• Don't drop es in weather/time sentences; German always needs a subject: Regnet alone is wrong, it must be Es regnet.

'es' (it) is the neuter third-person singular subject pronoun.

Replaces neuter nouns (das …); also for weather/time (es regnet, es ist spät).

'es' ist das neutrale Subjektpronomen der 3. Person Singular.