The German Cases
Right, let’s get stuck into the heart of the German language, the cases. There are four cases in the German language: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive. The cases are an important part of German grammar as they are responsible for the endings of adjectives, indefinite articles and when to use which personal pronoun. Let’s have a closer look below. Learn and enjoy the German language with Jabbalab! 🙂
The Nominative Case
| Masculine | Feminine | Neutral | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Definite Article | der Mann | die Frau | das Haus |
| Indefinite Article | ein Mann | eine Frau | ein Haus |
The nominative case is used for a person, animal or thing which is doing the action. In this case, you will be able to ask: Who/What did or is something? The nominative case is always used after the verbs sein and werden.
Example sentences:
Der Mann schläft. ⇨ Who sleeps?
Die Frau kocht. ⇨ Who cooks?
Es ist ein schönes Haus. ⇨ What is beautiful?
The Accusative Case
| Masculine | Feminine | Neutral | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Definite Article | den Mann | die Frau | das Haus |
| Indefinite Article | einen Mann | eine Frau | ein Haus |
The accusative case is used for a person, animal or thing which is directly affected by the action of the verb. The accusative is also used after certain prepositions.
Example sentences:
Ich sehe den Mann. ⇨ What do I see?
Wir haben die Torte gegessen. ⇨ What have we eaten?
Er hat ein Foto gemacht. ⇨ What has he made?
You can see that the noun in the sentence here is always directly affected by the verb.
The Dative Case
| Masculine | Feminine | Neutral | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Definite Article | dem Mann | der Frau | dem Haus |
| Indefinite Article | einem Mann | einer Frau | einem Haus |
The dative case is used to show the indirect object of a verb. An indirect object is a person, animal or a thing the action is intended to benefit or harm. You are able to ask: Who to/for or to/for what? In most situations you can also ask whom. The dative case is also used after certain prepositions.
Example sentences:
Ich gab der Frau einen Apfel. ⇨ Who did I give an Apple to?
Er hilft dem Mann beim Putzen. ⇨ Whom did he help to clean?
Er gibt einem Mädchen einen Kuss. ⇨ Who did he give a kiss to?
The Genitive Case
| Masculine | Feminine | Neutral | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Definite Article | des Mannes | der Frau | des Hauses |
| Indefinite Article | eines Mannes | einer Frau | eines Hauses |
| des Lehrers | des Mädchens | ||
| eines Lehrers | eines Mädchens |
The genitive case is used to show, that something belongs to someone. You’re able to ask: Whose…? The genitive case is also used after certain prepositions.
Note:
–s is added to masculine and neuter nouns ending in: en, el or er.
e.g. der Lehrer → des Lehrers
e.g. der Geldbeutel → des Geldbeutels
e.g. das Eisen → des Eisens
–es is added to most masculine and neuter nouns of one syllable ending in a consonant.
e.g. der Mann → des Mannes
e.g. das Pferd → des Pferdes
Example sentences:
Das Haus der Frau ist blau. ⇨ Whose house is blue?
Das Auto des Mannes ist schwarz. ⇨ Whose car is black?
Das Hufeisen des Pferdes ist kaputt. ⇨ Whose horseshoe is broken?
Die Farbe des Geldbeutels ist braun. ⇨ Whose colour is brown?
Das Auto des Lehrers ist grün. ⇨ Whose car is green?
Die Tasche des Mädchens ist gelb. ⇨ Whose bag is yellow?
Das ist die Telefonnummer einer Freundin. ⇨ Whose telephone number is that?