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Grammar Lesson

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Grammar Lesson

The German Cases

Right, let's get stuck into the heart of the German language - the cases. They are an important part of German grammar as they're the reason nouns, pronouns, articles and adjectives go through so many ending changes from sentence to sentence.

There are four different cases in the German language:

Nominative Case
Accusative Case
Dative Case
Genitive Case

In this module we'll be looking at the three big ones: nominative, accusative and dative case. The genitive case is far less frequently used and we'll go through this in more detail in our Everyday Life Module in level B1

The Nominative Case

The nominative case is for the subject of the sentence. The subject is a person, animal or thing that is doing the action. In this case, you will be able to ask: Who/What does or is something?

For example:
Julia zieht sich um. (Julia is getting changed.) â‡¨ Who is getting changed? â‡¨ Julia
Die Bluse ist altmodisch. (The blouse is old-fashioned.) â‡¨ What is old-fashioned? â‡¨ die Bluse (the blouse)

The definite and indefinite article will stay in their basic form in the nominative case. Here is a table to illustrate this:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Definite Article	der Rock	die Brille	das Kleid
Indefinite Article	ein Rock	eine Brille	ein Kleid

Example sentences:
Der Rock ist zu eng. (The skirt is too tight.) â‡¨ What is too tight? â‡¨ der Rock (the skirt)
Die Brille ist neu. (The glasses are new.) â‡¨ What is new? â‡¨ die Brille (the glasses)
Das MÃ¤dchen zieht sich um. (The girl is getting changed.) â‡¨ Who is getting changed? â‡¨ das MÃ¤dchen (the girl)
Das ist ein guter Wein. (That's a good wine.) â‡¨ What is good? â‡¨ der Wein (the wine)
Es ist ein schÃ¶nes Kleid. (It's a beautiful dress.) â‡¨ What is beautiful? â‡¨ das Kleid (the dress)

Tip
The nominative case is always used after the verbs sein and werden.

The Accusative Case

The accusative case is used to show the direct object of a sentence. The direct object is a person, animal or thing that is directly affected by the action of the verb.

The definite and indefinite article will change in the masculine form in the accusative case. Here is a table:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Definite Article	den Rock	die Brille	das Kleid
Indefinite Article	einen Rock	eine Brille	ein Kleid

Example sentences:
Hast du die blaue Tasche gesehen? (Have you seen the blue bag?) â‡¨ What have you seen? â‡¨ die Tasche (the bag = direct object)
Ich liebe das rote Kleid. (I love that red dress.) â‡¨ What do I love? â‡¨ das Kleid (the dress = direct object)
Er braucht eine Brille. (He needs glasses.) â‡¨ What does he need? â‡¨ eine Brille (glasses = direct object)
Ich habe ein Nachthemd gekauft. (I bought a nightie.) â‡¨ What did I buy? â‡¨ ein Nachthemd (a nightie = direct object)
Sie nimmt einen Regenschirm mit. (She takes an umbrella with her.) â‡¨ What does she take with her? â‡¨ einen Regenschirm (an umbrella = direct object)

Accusative Prepositions

The accusative case is also used after certain prepositions. These prepositions are:

bis (until, till)
durch (through, by)
fÃ¼r (for)
gegen (against, for)
ohne (without)
um (around, for, at)

Example sentences:
Der Ring ist fÃ¼r dich. â‡¨ The ring is for you.
Ich gehe ohne ihn einkaufen. â‡¨ I go shopping without him.

But don't worry too much about the prepositions yet as we will go through them in more detail in our Information and Directions Module in level A2.

Accusative Verbs

There is a group of verbs that are mostly followed by the accusative case. These verbs are:

backen â‡¨ to bake	einladen â‡¨ to invite	fragen â‡¨ to ask
bekommen â‡¨ to receive	erfinden â‡¨ to invent	haben â‡¨ to have
besuchen â‡¨ to visit	essen â‡¨ to eat	holen â‡¨ to fetch
brauchen â‡¨ to need	finden â‡¨ to find	kennen â‡¨ to know
legen â‡¨ to lay	lernen â‡¨ to learn	machen â‡¨ to do, to make
mÃ¶gen â‡¨ to like	nehmen â‡¨ to take	sehen â‡¨ to see
sprechen â‡¨ to speak	suchen â‡¨ to search	trinken â‡¨ to drink
Ã¶ffnen â‡¨ to open	verstehen â‡¨ to understand	wÃ¤hlen â‡¨ to choose

The Dative Case

And last but not least we'd like to introduce you to the dative case. This one is a bit trickier but practice makes perfect. The dative case is used to show the indirect object of a sentence. Here you are able to ask: Who to/for or to/for what?

For example:
Er gab dem MÃ¤dchen einen Kuss. (He gave the girl a kiss.) â‡¨ Who did he give a kiss to? â‡¨ dem MÃ¤dchen (the girl = indirect object)

Let's have a look at how the definite and indefinite article will change according to the dative case:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Definite Article	dem Rock	der Brille	dem Kleid
Indefinite Article	einem Rock	einer Brille	einem Kleid

Example sentences:
Ich hÃ¶re der Musik zu. (I'm listening to the music.) â‡¨ What do I listen to? â‡¨ der Musik (the music = indirect object)
Martin schenkte dem Kind einen Schal. (Martin gave the child a scarf.) â‡¨ Who did Martin give a scarf to? â‡¨ dem Kind (the child = indirect object)
Ich zeigte einem Freund mein Fotoalbum. (I showed a friend my photo album.) â‡¨ Who did I show my photo album to? â‡¨ einem Freund (a friend = indirect object)
Ich gab einer Frau einen Regenschirm. (I gave a woman an umbrella.) â‡¨ Who did I give an umbrella to? â‡¨ einer Frau (a woman = indirect object)

Dative Prepositions

The dative case is also used after certain prepositions. These prepositions are:

aus (from, out of)
auÃŸer (besides, except for)
bei (at, near, with)
gegenÃ¼ber (opposite, across from)
mit (with, by)
nach (after, past, to)
seit (for, since)
von (by, from, of)
zu (to)

Example sentences:
Wir wohnen bei ihm. â‡¨ We live at his place.
Ich mag die schwarzen Stiefel mit dem ReiÃŸverschluss. â‡¨ I like the black boots with the zip.

Dative Verbs

There are a few verbs in the German language that are always followed by the dative case. These verbs are:

antworten â‡¨ to answer	gefallen â‡¨ to like	glauben â‡¨ to believe
danken â‡¨ to thank	gehÃ¶ren â‡¨ to belong to	helfen â‡¨ to help
folgen â‡¨ to follow	geschehen â‡¨ to happen	passieren â‡¨ to happen
raten â‡¨ to advise	trauen â‡¨ to trust	schaden â‡¨ to damage
schmecken â‡¨ to taste	verzeihen â‡¨ to forgive	zuhÃ¶ren â‡¨ to listen to

There is also a group of verbs that are mostly followed by the dative case. These verbs are:

anbieten â‡¨ to offer	drohen â‡¨ to threaten	gratulieren â‡¨ to congratulate
beweisen â‡¨ to prove	fehlen â‡¨ to miss (someone)	schenken â‡¨ to give someone something
bringen â‡¨ to bring	geben â‡¨ to give	schreiben â‡¨ to write
vertrauen â‡¨ to trust	zeigen â‡¨ to show	zustimmen â‡¨ to agree

How German pronouns change with case

We've already discussed German subject pronouns in our Meet and Greet Module. Subject pronouns have different forms according to the case they're taking in a sentence. It can be tricky to get to grips with but learning the different forms is a vital step in learning the German language.

Table: Pronouns and the cases

Pronoun	Nominative	Accusative	Dative
ich	ich	mich	mir
du	du	dich	dir
er / sie / es	er / sie / es	ihn / sie / es	ihm / ihr / ihm
wir	wir	uns	uns
ihr	ihr	euch	euch
sie / Sie	sie / Sie	sie / Sie	ihnen / Ihnen

Let's have a look at some examples to help cement the idea of the German personal pronoun. We have put questions after the sentences to show you why the sentence is that specific case.

Nominative:
Ich spiele heute FuÃŸball. (I play football today.) â‡¨ Who plays football? â‡¨ ich (I)
Er singt ein Lied. (He sings a song.) â‡¨ Who sings a song? â‡¨ er (he)
Wir kochen gerne. (We like cooking.) â‡¨ Who likes cooking? â‡¨ wir (we)

Accusative:
Ich sehe dich. (I see you.) â‡¨ Who do I see? â‡¨ dich (you)
Ich liebe euch alle. (I love you all.) â‡¨ Who do I love? â‡¨ euch (you)
Sie mÃ¶gen uns. (They like us.) â‡¨ Who do they like? â‡¨ uns (us)

Dative:
Ich gab ihm einen Kuss. (I gave him a kiss) â‡¨ Who did I give a kiss to? â‡¨ ihm (him)
Ich helfe ihr beim Packen. (I help her to pack.) â‡¨ Who do I give help to? â‡¨ ihr (her)
Er bringt mir ein Glas Wein. (He is getting me a glass of wine.) â‡¨ Who does he get a glass of wine for? â‡¨ mir (me)

Tip
English and German share case-related characteristics when talking about pronouns. ich = I mich = me er = he ihn = him wir = we uns = us ihnen = them

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