Ihre Bluse ist neu, aber sie passt überhaupt nicht zu dieser Hose.

to be

Breakdown of Ihre Bluse ist neu, aber sie passt überhaupt nicht zu dieser Hose.

• neu: new
• aber: but
• sie: she/it

Questions & Answers about Ihre Bluse ist neu, aber sie passt überhaupt nicht zu dieser Hose.

Does Ihre mean her or your here? How can I tell?

It’s ambiguous in this standalone sentence. Ihre can mean:

• her (possessive of “she”: lowercase ihre, but it’s capitalized here only because it starts the sentence), or
• formal your (possessive of the polite Sie, always written with capital I: Ihre).

From this sentence alone, both “Her blouse …” and “Your blouse (formal) …” are possible. The following sie refers to the blouse, not to a person.

Why is it sie passt and not es passt?

Because Bluse is feminine in German (die Bluse). Pronouns agree with grammatical gender, so you use sie (“she/it” for feminine nouns). For a neuter noun like das Hemd you’d say es passt, and for a masculine noun like der Rock you’d say er passt.

What does passen zu mean, and why not use mit?

With clothes, passen zu (+ dative) means “to go with/match.” You don’t use mit for this meaning. Examples:

• Die Bluse passt zu der Hose. = The blouse goes with the trousers.
• Using mit would suggest physical accompaniment (“with”) rather than the idiomatic “matches.” Stick to passen zu.